By Shannon Cheng, Washington State People Power Activist
 

After years of work by activists, stakeholders, community groups, and lawmakers, Gov. Jay Inslee signed the Washington Voting Rights Act into law. This historic legislation paves the way for communities across Washington state to find local solutions for an issue that has existed since the founding of our democracy — how to ensure minority representation in a system of majority rule.

The WVRA improves voting rights by expanding on the protections of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Almost all local elections in Washington currently use an at-large system where the entire community chooses who represents them on multi-member bodies such as city councils, school boards, and port districts. In areas where polarized voting occurs, at-large elections may prevent a minority group from electing any candidates that represent their community. Because the votes of the minority group become diluted in the at-large system, the makeup of the elected body does not truly reflect the community it is supposed to represent. This has had damaging effects for minority groups in Washington and around the country.

For example, the city of Yakima, Washington, was found to be in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. No Latino official had ever been elected to the city council despite the fact that over 40 percent of the city’s population is Latino. Because Yakima held at-large elections, this entire community was effectively shut out of council elections and having a voice in city government. The alternative used to fix this imbalance was switching to district-based elections, which divided the city into districts from which members of the legislative body were chosen. Because these districts were drawn to better reflect the demographics of Yakima than a single at-large district, the resulting elected body can now more accurately represent the population it serves. In the first election after Yakima switched to district-based elections, three Latina candidates were elected to the city council.

Yakima’s history isn’t unusual. Cities and counties from California to Georgia also used at-large voting systems that undermined the representation of minority groups, and they were challenged in the courts by activists.

Before the WVRA, no mechanism existed for local governments in Washington state to change their election systems without first undergoing a lawsuit that was often expensive and time-consuming. This law now empowers communities to voluntarily reform their election systems without resource-draining litigation.

Any voter in a community who feels that the local election system is not in accordance with the federal Voting Rights Act can now file a notice with the local government that describes both the potential violation and a proposed remedy. The local government and the notice filer can then work together to find a solution that fixes the problem. It is only if no satisfactory remedy is implemented within the prescribed time frame that legal action is taken. While district-based elections could solve such issues, the WVRA does not prescribe them as the only solution and allows room for creativity in developing the proper system for each individual community.

Activists with ACLU’s People Power like me worked to support the WVRA as part of the nationwide Let People Vote campaign, which began in October. We and our partners reached out to state lawmakers, attended committee hearings at the statehouse, and advocated for this change through grassroots organizing in our local communities alongside allies in the Washington Voting Justice Coalition.

In tumultuous times, we need to find solutions to common problems while ensuring minority rights and representation. Washington’s new voting rights law will help to do just that. Its passage shows that committed activism makes our democracy stronger and more representative.