The California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) was enacted by the State of California in 2001 to prohibit at-large election systems when it would hinder the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or otherwise influence the outcome of an election. The CVRA makes it significantly easier for plaintiffs to force jurisdictions into by-district election systems because it only requires two issues of analysis instead of the four required under the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1964:
- Does the protected class vote as a bloc?
- Do the voters who are not in the protected class vote in a bloc to defeat the preferred candidates of the protected class?