• Montebello resident, Margot Eiser, speaks during a rally outside of the Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition host a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

  • Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot, speaks during a rally outside of Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition hosted a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

  • Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot, speaks during a rally outside of Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition hosted a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

  • Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot, speaks during a rally outside of Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition hosted a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

  • Rich Procida, of the Truth and Democracy Coalition, speaks during a rally outside of Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition host a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

  • Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot, left, shakes hands with Rich Procida, right, of the Truth and Democracy Coalition, after an interview outside of Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition hosted a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

  • Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot, speaks during a rally outside of Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition hosted a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

  • Whittier City Council Member Henry Bouchot, left, joins with Rich Procida, right, of the Truth and Democracy Coalition, for an interview outside of Whittier City Hall on Saturday August 7th, 2021. With the deadline to pass federal voting rights legislation fast approaching, the Truth and Democracy Coalition hosted a “Democracy Can’t Wait” Town Hall with Bouchot to urge Congress to pass the For the People Act by any means necessary. (Photo by Michael Ares, Contributing Photographer)

A Whittier group in support of voter rights broadened their protest from banning partisan gerrymandering, setting baseline standards for voting access, and curbing big money in politics to Whittier itself.

The group held a rally on Saturday, Aug. 7 in front of Whittier City Hall, urging Congress to pass the For the People Act, also known as H.R. 1, which would ban partisan gerrymandering, as well as set baseline standards for voting access and curb big money in politics.

But in Friday telephone interviews, Rich Procida, founder of the Truth and Democracy Coalition, and Whittier Councilman Henry Bouchot also criticized the Whittier City Council for moving its election to April in even years, which means it will not coincide with presidential and gubernatorial election dates.

“Moving elections to a time when there’s lower voter turnout is problematic,” Procida said. “We need to make it easier to vote, not harder.”

Local turnout in November 2020 was nearly 82% and was about 62% in November 2018. Turnout in June 2018 was about 31%.

Typically, Whittier City Council election turnouts are in the teens.

In 2020, Whittier’s election — as the result of state legislation — was consolidated with the state primary as a result of state law requiring city elections to coincide with either the state primary or general election. That would have meant moving the 2022 election to June.

But when a state appellate court ruled the law didn’t apply to charter cities,  Whittier’s Council voted 4-1 to move its election back to April, its normal time required by its charter. Bouchot cast the lone no vote.

Whittier Mayor Joe Vinatiei defended the decision by phone on Friday, saying this way, Whittier is in charge of its own election.

“The cost is under our control, not the county,” Vinatieri said. “We’re completely responsible for our election and the result coming out in a timely manner. It also will held with complete transparency with our staff in public.”

As for turnout, Vinatieri conceded it most likely will be lower but not “dramatically lower,” as 2022 is not a presidential election year.

Bouchot, while acknowledging the city must amend its charter if leaders want to align elections with the bigger races, questioned why anyone would want to hold an off-schedule election.

“Why would somebody want less people to vote unless you don’t think you can win,” he said.

This was the second rally held by this group in Whittier. About 20 people marched in May in front of the Post Office as part of the “John Lewis ‘Good Trouble’ Awareness” Votercades” across America.

The group is fighting voter suppression and supporting ending the filibuster and statehood for the District of Columbia.