City Council Election System

Background

The Pasco City Council, previous to 2018, was made up of five seats where voting was by district in the primary election, but "at-large" (the entire city) in the general election, and two "at-large" seats which were voted city-wide in both the primary and general election. This system had seen numerous district boundary adjustments, a process called redistricting, over the past several election cycles in response to the rapid growth of the city. Along with the overall growth, community demographics had changed. According to U.S. Census data, 20 percent of the population in 1980 was of Latino heritage; in 2016, that number was 56 percent. Demographic changes in the city’s voting-age population had also occurred, with an estimated 36 percent of the voting-age population identifying as Latino in 2016.

Noting this trend, the City Council took particular care during the 2014-2015 redistricting process to assure that districts in areas more densely populated with Latino voting-age citizens be structured in such a way as to maximize the impact of the Latino vote. However, through this process, the City Council recognized the effect of then-current state law preventing Pasco and "code" cities like it from providing for a district-only based election system in both the primary and general elections, which limited the impact of the Latino vote.

In May 2015, the City Council enacted Resolution No. 3635 declaring its intent to pursue a change in state law to allow district based-voting; declaring the City’s continuing intent to provide equal voting opportunities for all of its citizens and to provide equitable and proportional representation. A district-based voting system would ensure that only the voters residing within the district vote on the district representative, not only for the primary but also for the general election. The City actively pursued a change in state law through the legislative process during the 2015 and 2016 legislative sessions; however, the State Legislature did not pass a bill that would offer relief in those sessions.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington, in March 2016, notified the City that they believed the City’s election system, as it fails to provide for district-based elections, violated the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and would seek remedies, including court action, to make the City compliant with the VRA. The City engaged in active negotiations with the ACLU to evaluate the concerns raised, ensure whatever course the City Council elected to pursue would withstand any challenges for violating state or federal law, and avoid litigation.

After receiving the ACLU’s first communication, City officials consulted with the ACLU to determine the data and the law that must be considered in addressing the violations of the VRA. Given the fact that state law at that time precluded district-based voting in cities like Pasco, and Pasco’s (and others) efforts to change state law to allow for greater flexibility had been fruitless, both the City and ACLU agreed that it would be necessary to embrace limited litigation in Federal Court as the only available means to bring the force of federal law to remedy the problem that existed as a result of the then-current state law.

Further Steps

Following the filing of a complaint in Federal Court by the ACLU, alleging violation of the VRA, the City and ACLU jointly proposed a "Partial Consent Decree" which served to identify the likely violation of the VRA and establish jurisdiction of the Court to order an appropriate remedy to address the violation. The City Council approved the submission of the Partial Consent Decree in August 2016.

Upon the approval of the Partial Consent Decree, the City and ACLU met to determine if an agreement could be reached on a voting plan as a remedy for the VRA issues. The ACLU preferred a seven-district option; the City Council chose a six district, one at-large seat option as its preferred alternative. Since an agreement on a remedy was not reached, the Federal Court heard arguments from each side in December 2016, with the goal that Court approval of any plan could occur well in advance of the May 2017 City Council candidate filing deadline.

Results

On January 27, 2017, Federal Judge Suko rendered a decision; he agreed that the City’s proposed plan of a six district, one at-large Council election system met the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act. The judge required that all Council seats be up for election in 2017, with districts 1, 3, 4, and 6 elected to four-year terms, and districts 2, 5, and the at-large seat be initially elected to two-year terms followed by four-year terms thereafter.

The 2017 election resulted in 5 new City Council candidates winning seats: