A judge in Orange County Superior Court ruled that Huntington Beach, California, must adopt a new voting system, which he claims violates the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) as it makes it harder for minorities to win. The city had previously used an "at-large" voting system for City Council elections, which every seat on the council was voted on by every voter within the city’s boundaries. Judge Craig Griffin ordered the city to adopt ranked-choice voting instead, which voters rank several candidates in order of preference rather than just choosing one per seat. The new system would require elections for all seven council seats at once, cutting short current council members' terms in the process. The judge justified his ruling based on the idea that California's own CVRA rests on independent state constitutional authority.