Case Filing: Missouri NAACP v. Ferguson-Florissant School District et. al.

Case Filing: Missouri NAACP v. Ferguson-Florissant School District et. al.

Missouri - Plaintiffs content in this lawsuit filed in December that African-American voters in Ferguson-Florissant are denied the ability to elect candidates of their choice to the local school board because of the existing at-large voting system. "Despite the fact that African Americans are almost half of the School District’s population and are a substantial majority of its students, there has never been adequate representation of African Americans on the Board. At present, the Board has only one African-American member."   They claim that under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, that the at-large method of voting dilutes minority voting power…
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Language Minority Provisions of the Voting Right Act

Language Minority Provisions of the Voting Right Act

The U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse. Many regions have significant populations for which English is not their first language, to address this the Voting Rights Act was amended to include the minority language provisions of section 203. Section 203 of the VRA requires registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, to be provided in the language of an applicable minority in jurisdiction where: citizens of voting age in a single language group within the jurisdiction: Is more than 10,000, or Is more than five percent of all…
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Case Filing: Harding v. County of Dallas, Texas

Case Filing: Harding v. County of Dallas, Texas

In January, Anglo voters in Dallas County represented by the Equal Voting Rights Institute filed a minority vote dilution claim against the majority minority County Commissioners Court's 2010 redistricting map, which it describes as "dilut[ing] the overall influence of the Anglo minority in Dallas so that, even if cross-over voting allowed an Anglo preferred candidate to win the County Judgeship, Anglos could not obtain control of the Commissioners Court. It did so, even though it meant dividing political subdivisions, and exaggerating the population disparities between CCDs (whether measured by total population or by CVAP) far beyond the ideal distribution." Read…
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Case Filing: Patino v. City of Pasadena

Case Filing: Patino v. City of Pasadena

Voters represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund filed suit this past November claiming minority vote dilution against the City of Pasadena, Texas. At issue is a change in the voting procedures for the eight member city council. Voters in the city recently passed a proposition to change from eight single member districts to a hybrid system of six single member districts and two at-large seats. Plaintiffs claim that this "will reduce Hispanic voting strength and will impede Hispanic voters’ ability to elect candidates of choice in subsequent in Pasadena City Council elections."   Read the Complaint here.
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