The Santa Clara Weekly has calculated the costs to the taxpayers of California’s version of the Voting Rights Act. $8,000,000. Now the costs can be weighed against the benefits. Remember, Section 2 of the (federal) Voting Rights Act applies also in California. California’s law is more plaintiff friendly than the federal law. A portion of the article: “For example, the LCCR sued the Tulare Local Healthcare District even though its five-member governing board includes two Indian-Americans, one Latino, and an African-American. The claim? That Latinos – one third of the district’s residents – were “shortchanged.” The LCCR also threatened Gustine Unified School District in Merced County with a CVRA lawsuit, even though the district has a large Portuguese-American population and three of the district’s five trustees – a majority – are Portuguese, according to a Feb. 24, 2010 Modesto Bee report.”