LAT: “Los Angeles County officials rejected a bid Tuesday from several Santa Clarita Valley school districts and a water district hoping to consolidate elections and avoid the kind of voting rights lawsuits that other local governments have been hit with….The districts commissioned a joint demographic study that found moving to by-district elections would not necessarily increase minority voting power or protect them against voting rights lawsuits. So instead they requested that the county allow them to consolidate their elections with the statewide general election in a bid to increase voter participation in their elections….But officials with the county registrar-recorder said allowing the districts to move their elections might overload the county’s voting system, which has limited room on each ballot. According to the office, large portions of the county are already at 75% capacity in even-year November elections.”