Like the majority of school districts across California, voters in Hanford elect school board members from the community at large, rather than from districts within the city. The suit, filed Thursday, asserts the at-large system serves to dilute the Hispanic voting bloc – thus denying Hispanics the chance to set district policies.

No Hispanic has served on the high school district's five-member board dating back more than two decades, according to the lawsuit, though the Hispanic population has grown steadily and stands at around 39 percent of Hanford's 42,000 residents.

"We are pursuing this action on behalf of the Latino community in Hanford ... who for much too long have not had a voice in school district affairs," said Tony Gomez, a plaintiff in the suit.

In 2002, six candidates ran for three open seats and the lone Hispanic candidate came in last, with 8 percent of 26,000 votes cast. The third place winner received 19 percent of the votes. Hispanic candidates also lost in 1983 and 1977, according to Chhaya Malik, an attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, which filed the case.

The explanation, according to the suit, is that the white majority consistently votes for non-Hispanic candidates – and so those candidates consistently beat Hispanics. The solution is district elections, which in a residentially segregated city such as Hanford would likely produce one or two Hispanic board members, Malik said.

Hispanics won seats on Hanford's City Council, for example, after the creation of districts based on a separate suit under the federal Voting Rights Act. Most school districts and about 400 cities in California rely on at-large elections, advocates said.

The state Voting Rights Act places less of a burden on minority communities to prove voting rights violations that the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, and allows the communities to ask for a change to a voting system that would make it easier for them to elect a candidate that represents them. If a Kings County Superior Court judge finds that voting in Hanford is racially polarized – as the suit contends – the judge can order a remedy, such as district voting.

Officials with the Hanford Joint Union High School District said they haven't seen the suit and couldn't comment on it.

The district did issue this statement: "We believe that parents and the community at large play a vital role in the success of local schools and students. We welcome and encourage active participation of parents and community members at all levels, regardless of race."

The Lawyers' Committee sued the city of Modesto in June under the same act, in an effort to end at-large elections of city council members. The Modesto suit hasn't been settled yet. The director of the Lawyers' Committee said he hoped other cities would voluntarily embrace district elections, but if not, the organization would sue other localities.

Other advocacy organizations said local elections must be made more inclusive.

"The status quo is simply not working for some ethnic groups," said Luis Arteaga, executive director of Latino Issues Forum. "This is an issue of representation, but it's also about the changing demographics of not only our schools, but also cities and counties throughout California."