Community coalition calls on all commissioners to redraw maps due to likely violation of voting rights

A recent analysis of voting patterns in Central and Eastern Washington and the Federal Voting Rights Act conducted by Dr. Matt A. Barreto with the UCLA Voting Rights Project confirmed what many community organizations of color had long argued: the state could be at risk of a voting right act lawsuit if it didn’t pay close attention to the Citizen Voting Age Population of Latinos in Yakima County. Under the Voting Rights Act, the Redistricting Commission must create a legislative district in Yakima where the majority of eligible voters are Latino. As it stands right now, all four maps produced by each of the Commissioners have failed that test and by doing so would be out of compliance with the Voting Rights Act if implemented. 

The analysis by Dr. Berreto prompted Commissioners Piñero-Walkinshaw and Sims, respectively the first Latino and African American appointed to the state’s Redistricting Commission, to commit to redraw their maps to ensure they would be in compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act. 

Redistricting Justice for Washington, a coalition primarily led by organizations of color, including a number of Latino organizations based in Yakima, applauds the decision and calls on Commissioners Graves and Commissioner Fain to join them.

The statements from Commissioners Piñero-Walkinshaw and Sims come on the heels of an overwhelming majority of testimony shared at both legislative and congressional hearings calling on Yakima County legislative districts to be drawn to empower Latinos to elect a representative of their choice. 

November 15th is the final deadline for all members of the Redistricting Commision to finish their negotiations and agree to the final congressional and legislative maps for the state. Key groups like Redistricting Justice for Washington will be prepared to bring a suit if the final maps are not compliant with the federal Voting Rights Act.

Community leaders in redistricting issued the following statements:

“In 48 out of the current 49 legislative districts, white voters constitute a majority of the eligible electorate - even though people of color are a third of Washington State’s population. And in none of the legislative districts do Latinos make up a majority of the electorate, which means that there isn’t a single legislative district where Latinos can elect the candidate of their choice on their own. It doesn’t take a law degree to know that’s wrong. I don’t think it’s too much to ask Commissioner Graves and Commissioner Fain to respect the people of Washington by proposing maps that are at the very least legal.” -Margot Spindola, an organizer with Latino Community Fund, one of the core organizations leading Redistricting Justice for Washington

“For folks who lived in Yakima, and especially Latinos, this analysis didn’t come as a surprise. Voter suppression has all too often been a tool of both parties. When Democrats struck a deal to make the 14th legislative district majority minority by population, but kept the eligible electorate majority white, it denied out communities representation for a decade. So I was glad to see Commissioner Sims and Commissioner Piñero Walkinshaw breaking those past practices of their party, and I hope Commissioner Graves and Commissioner Fain join them. Voting rights shouldn’t be a partisan issue.” -Giovanni Severino, an organizer with Progreso

“A couple years ago, my city, the City of Yakima, was successfully sued over violating the voting rights of Latinos. Just a few weeks ago, the county was successfully sued over violating the voting rights of Latinos. This isn’t a new story here. One of the things I work on now is long-term structural reforms like ranked-choice voting and proportional representation that would end gerrymandering once and for all because the share of votes would determine who wins, and not the district lines. For now, the Commissioners need to comply with the voting rights act and go back to the drawing board, but we should also be talking about how we can end racial gerrymandering so we’re not back here again in 10 years.” -Kenia Perigrino, a resident of Yakima and organizer with Washington for Equitable Representation