The City of Santa Monica’s local election system discriminates against minority voters and must change, according to a recent ruling by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. The tentantive ruling comes after a seven-week trial where plaintiffs Maria Loya, and her husband, Oscar de la Torre, argued the current at-large election system makes it nearly impossible for Latino-preferred candidates to win a seat at the table.

“All the progress we’ve seen in the Pico Neighborhood didn’t come from the government, it came from the people,” said de la Torre, who currently serves on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board. Judge Yvette Palazuelos has not decided whether her ruling will retroactively apply to the Nov. 6 election.

De la Torre’s lawyer, Malibu-based attorney Kevin Shenkman, has overturned election systems in approximately 40 cities using the California Voting Rights Act. In most cases, a mere letter from Shenkman’s firm was enough to get cities to change their elections, forming districts where concentrations of Latinos or African Americans would have move voting power.

However, a 2017 study by think tank GrassrootsLab found only about a third of cities saw an increase in minority representation after switching to districts.

The City of Santa Monica plans to appeal the ruling.