In January, 2023, ELLA (Empowering Latina Leadership & Action) reached out to me to change their school board election method in Sunnyside, WA.
ELLA empowers local leadership by training Latine candidates to run for local government. Due to racially polarized voting, a long history of racial discrimination and present day racial disparities, candidates of color were not able to get elected to the local school board.
The main reason was Sunnyside's election method. Sunnyside School Board elected their members through at AT-LARGE election method. AT-LARGE election methods historically were used to dilute the vote of communities of color.
The perfect storm of 1) at-large election methods, 2) racially polarized voting, 3) present and historical discrimination; and 4) racial disparities in all areas of life that inhibit political participation created a body politic that was disengaged and unrepresented.
To cure these ailments, we (ELLA, Amend Law and ACLU of WA) notified the Sunnyside School Board of a potential violation of the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) and asked that they change their AT-LARGE election method to a BY-DISTRICT election method.
After mediation with Judge Wesley Saint Clair, the Sunnyside School Board agreed to the terms of a settlement to change to BY-DISTRICT elections and create three active-voter majority Latino districts. We were able to succeed in our WVRA claim through serving a notice and mediation. This saved millions of dollars of work for all parties involved.
The community of Sunnyside made this electoral change possible through its engaged and committed parent and teacher advocacy who stood up as witnesses in our case.
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