Passed in 2002, the California Voting Rights Act, or CVRA, punishes the use of at-large elections, where everyone in a city votes on the same set of candidates. Many of the state’s 480 cities, 1,000 school boards and 3,300 other local boards have used them for a century and still do. But the law prefers district-based elections like San Francisco’s supervisor system, where neighborhoods pick their representatives.