Legal fee concerns raised for voting rights act
SEATTLE (AP) - Opponents of a bill aiming to reform representation of minorities in local elections say the measure would be expensive for municipalities because of possible legal fees.
A House of Representatives panel held a hearing Wednesday on the so-called "Washington Voting Rights Act," attracting a lively debate on the measure that's being pushed by minority interest groups.
The measure allows for minority individuals or groups to seek court-mandated orders to jurisdictions to reform their elections. Those jurisdictions include towns and cities of 1,000 people or more, school districts, fire districts, counties, ports among others. Among the remedies is shifting from at-large elections to district-based elections to better represent residents.
The push behind the measure is the history of elections in Central and Eastern Washington, specifically Yakima County where the American Civil Liberties filed a lawsuit last year against the city of Yakima.
Forty-one percent of Yakima's 91,000 residents are Latino but the city has never elected a Latino member to its at-large city council. In 2011, council members refused to put an initiative on a special ballot requiring that all seven members represent a specific district, and Yakima voters defeated an initiative to change the system in last year's primary.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court under the federal Voting Rights Act.
Many advocates also saw the August 2012 election of Supreme Court Judge Steven Gonzalez as indicative of a racial divide in Washington state voting. Gonzalez lost most of Eastern Washington despite his lone opponent not mounting a discernible campaign.
But at the hearing, lobbyists for cities and other school districts said that the measure is too vague and could allow for expensive legal battles.
Dan Steele of the Washington Association of School Administrators said school districts have a mix of elections. Some are at-large while others hold district elections, or both.
He said the measure could limit the choice school districts have on what voting system works better. Furthermore, he said school districts could be sued for circumstances they can't control, such as who registered to vote, who goes to vote and who files for office.
Michael S. Schechter, an attorney who has worked with various municipalities, said that while there is a problem in some parts of the state when it comes to elections, the bill lacks standards to fix them. He said the bill does not allow ample time - 45 days - for municipalities to address concerns before a lawsuit can be filed.
But proponents said the measure is designed to avoid a legal battle and to provide tailored solutions to local problems.
"The bill allows local governments to make a change when they become aware of these kinds of problems and before litigation ever happens," said Shankar Narayan of the ACLU of Washington.
He said that the measure does not call for any official to be removed from office or reverse election results.
Nayaran added that Yakima was sued after years of ignoring concerns over its election system.
A version of this measure moved smoothly through the House last year but it was not brought to a full vote.
A House of Representatives panel held a hearing Wednesday on the so-called "Washington Voting Rights Act," attracting a lively debate on the measure that's being pushed by minority interest groups.
The measure allows for minority individuals or groups to seek court-mandated orders to jurisdictions to reform their elections. Those jurisdictions include towns and cities of 1,000 people or more, school districts, fire districts, counties, ports among others. Among the remedies is shifting from at-large elections to district-based elections to better represent residents.
The push behind the measure is the history of elections in Central and Eastern Washington, specifically Yakima County where the American Civil Liberties filed a lawsuit last year against the city of Yakima.
Forty-one percent of Yakima's 91,000 residents are Latino but the city has never elected a Latino member to its at-large city council. In 2011, council members refused to put an initiative on a special ballot requiring that all seven members represent a specific district, and Yakima voters defeated an initiative to change the system in last year's primary.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court under the federal Voting Rights Act.
Many advocates also saw the August 2012 election of Supreme Court Judge Steven Gonzalez as indicative of a racial divide in Washington state voting. Gonzalez lost most of Eastern Washington despite his lone opponent not mounting a discernible campaign.
But at the hearing, lobbyists for cities and other school districts said that the measure is too vague and could allow for expensive legal battles.
Dan Steele of the Washington Association of School Administrators said school districts have a mix of elections. Some are at-large while others hold district elections, or both.
He said the measure could limit the choice school districts have on what voting system works better. Furthermore, he said school districts could be sued for circumstances they can't control, such as who registered to vote, who goes to vote and who files for office.
Michael S. Schechter, an attorney who has worked with various municipalities, said that while there is a problem in some parts of the state when it comes to elections, the bill lacks standards to fix them. He said the bill does not allow ample time - 45 days - for municipalities to address concerns before a lawsuit can be filed.
But proponents said the measure is designed to avoid a legal battle and to provide tailored solutions to local problems.
"The bill allows local governments to make a change when they become aware of these kinds of problems and before litigation ever happens," said Shankar Narayan of the ACLU of Washington.
He said that the measure does not call for any official to be removed from office or reverse election results.
Nayaran added that Yakima was sued after years of ignoring concerns over its election system.
A version of this measure moved smoothly through the House last year but it was not brought to a full vote.
If latinos are so under represented in office and they are a majority of the population, why don't the put up a candidate and get out the vote, instead of looking to the courts to change the process?
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Let's jump a decade or two ahead and assume nothing has changed in Yakima except for now Latinos are the majority. Does any SANE person believe that the ACLU would then advocate district-based elections? Anyone?
HMMM, OK. A big uproar over the "Latino" vote. What about the Indian vote, or the Black vote, or the Asian vote, or the . . . . . . . . GET THE MESSAGE? I like what EXILED_PATRIOT said. Run for office, present your idea's, get elected if you have enough support. All this "Mexican, Latino, etc" bs is just another racism track. What happened to American voters. (meaning citizens, NOT race) You want to solve the "Latino" problem? Surrender to Mexico (we almost have anyway). Hold it, then we would have the African-American, Indian, White, Asian, Iranian, Shiite, Russian, (and the list goes on) problem. The ONLY way to get rid of the "racial" problem is to quit concentrating on skin color and concentrate on the HUMAN problem. Oh darn, Does that make me racist now. Because I choose to be Colorblind? Oh well, let the insults fly now!
"Forty-one percent of Yakima's 91,000 residents are Latino but the city has never elected a Latino member to its at-large city council." I wonder how many of that 41% are here LEGALLY. Maybe before we jump on this, we should find out. It would be a shame to waste that much taxpayer money to find out that the big fight was over 3% of the Latino population instead of 41%
Tough. The bigotry in eastern Washington really does need to be dragged out into the light, and using district voting as a way of managing the de facto gated communities is not a bad way to deal with the situation.
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What I find amusing is that the justification for pushing back on the law is that it could get expensive for those very same communities to fight lawsuits pushed by the very folks they've been excluding from the political process. Yakima obstinately refused to do anything about the situation - and why would they, as they didn't see a problem with it - until the ACLU stepped in. Now they're claiming the fear of poverty because of their bad decisions?
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Tough.
@FormlessOne I agree that that Eastern Washington generally and Yakima and Wenatchee specifically has a huge issue with anti-Latino bias. Essentially, it comes down to farm and ranch owners versus the seasonal workers they hire.
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It is, however, germane to ask just how many of the supposed 41% of Latinos in Yakima county are legal, registered-to-vote citizens and how many are illegals. Non-citizens have no rights if that's the case. That's what being a 'citizen' means.
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Nevertheless, the 'us versus the wetbacks' thing so prevelent in the area does need to be addressed.
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@FormlessOne so how is any one being excluded? they have the right to file for the position to run for public office and if they present a good Idea and the majority likes it they win. don't see a problem. or is it that your a Racisit and think only a minority can represent a minority? Unlike the greatest Republican of all time once said it is not the color of the skin but the intention of the heart in his I have a dream speech Yes Dr. Martin Luther King was a Republican.
Another idiotic law written by idiots for idiots...Â