Listen: Supreme Court Oral Argument in Brnovich Voting Rights Act (sec. 2) Case

Listen: Supreme Court Oral Argument in Brnovich Voting Rights Act (sec. 2) Case

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, a lawsuit challenging Arizona's out-of-precinct policy on Election Day, which does not count provisional ballots cast in person that were cast outside of the voter’s designated precinct and its ballot-collection law, which permits only certain persons to handle another person’s completed early ballot. The lawsuit contends these laws violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. While redistricting maps are often challenged for minority vote dilution under Section 2 of the Act, this case involves claims of vote denial as opposed to vote dilution and centers around…
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Texas Federal Court Imposes Preclearance on City of Pasadena

Texas Federal Court Imposes Preclearance on City of Pasadena

Pasadena, Texas - The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in this ruling invalidated the city's move from an eight-member district redistricting map to a mixed map of six single member districts and two at-large seats for electing its city council.  The court's finding of minority vote dilution (of Hispanic voters) under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act includes an order to subject the city to preclearance requirements, which would mean election officials must clear any future redistricting changes to the Justice Department for approval.  Read the initial case filing by plaintiffs here. There were several…
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Cumulative Voting for School Board Ordered By Federal Court in Missouri

Cumulative Voting for School Board Ordered By Federal Court in Missouri

Missouri - Late last month a federal district court ended a two year challenge to the Ferguson-Florissant School District's use of at-large elections for its seven member school board.  The court ruled in August, that at-large elections for board members did violate section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  The court's order requires the school district to use a cumulative voting system with staggered terms and off-cycle elections, preceded by a voter education program, much like the one described in the cumulative voting educational video below. https://youtu.be/L-n_D16bchM  
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Packing Minorities Into Districts. When Is That Ever Okay?

Packing Minorities Into Districts. When Is That Ever Okay?

Washington DC - The Supreme Court will tackle that question today as it hears oral arguments in two redistricting cases.  Both cases are alleged racial gerrymander claims; one orginating from Virginia's state legislative map and the other from North Carolina's congressional district map.  (more…)
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Anatomy of a Section 2 Lawsuit: Ferguson-Florissant School District

Anatomy of a Section 2 Lawsuit: Ferguson-Florissant School District

The Missouri State Conference of the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Ferguson-Florissant School District this past December in a quest to discontinue the at-large elections of its seven member board and instead divide the school district into seven election districts from which each board member will be elected. Changing the method of election in this way is sure to dramatically change the composition of the board in favor of the African-American families in the district. Why? As it turns out, the Ferguson-Florissant School District’s demographics and political environment is indeed a microcosm of the sad state of race relations…
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