The U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal Voting Rights Act last June. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, "Our country has changed."

He was writing about the distance the nation has traveled since the battle over civil rights in the South first shocked, then compelled, the federal government to act. But the fight over civil rights and voting continues to play out across the country. It has simply changed form.

Here in California, the fight is over the structure of local elections, and whether they deliver fair representation to minority communities. The California Report's Steven Cuevas has the story from Palmdale.