Lawsuit filed against city accused of using voting system that violates rights

DODGE CITY, Kan. (WIBW) - Voting rights advocates have filed a lawsuit against a city in Kansas that they say uses a voting system that violates residents’ rights.

The ACLU of Kansas says that on Thursday evening, Dec. 15, voting rights advocates filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the method of elections in Dodge City and claimed it unlawfully dilutes the voting power of Latine residents.

The organization noted that the case was brought by the UCLA Voting Rights Project, ACLU of Kansas, American Civil Liberties Union and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP, on behalf of two Latino residents of the city. It noted that the community members could be drawn into single-member districts that would give them the chance to elect candidates of choice.

“Cleary Gottlieb is proud to stand with our partners at UCLA and the ACLU in challenging the systematic exclusion of Latine voters from full participation in our democracy,” Abena Mainoo, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb, said. “The law requires that Latine voters in Dodge City — and throughout this country — have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.”

According to the lawsuit, the Latine population of Dodge City is large and continues to grow. These residents make up 65% of the city’s total population and 50% of its voting-age population. However, since at least 2000, no Latine-preferred candidate has been elected to the 5-member city commission.

“Latines comprise nearly two-thirds of Dodge City’s population, yet no Latine-preferred candidate has ever been elected to the city commission in at least two decades,” Jonathan Topaz, Staff Attorney, ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said. “The current method of electing city commissioners has systematically sapped the political power of the Latine population and is a textbook violation of the Voting Rights Act.”

The ACLU indicated that the commission uses an at-large system to vote, which means that qualified city residents can vote in elections for all five districts as opposed to a single-member district model. The latter would allow commission members to represent specific geographic districts within the city and only qualified residents within those districts could vote.

“Dodge City’s at-large method of elections has shut out Latine voices from the political system for over twenty years,” Sonni Waknin, Program Manager and Voting Rights Counsel, UCLA Voting Rights Project, said. “We are proud to represent our clients in fighting for a system that will allow them and other Latino voters in Dodge City to have the opportunity to elect candidates of choice.”

The ACLU noted that while Dodge City’s Latine population votes cohesively, the city’s system has allowed the non-Hispanic white population to vote as a bloc to prevent the Latine population from electing candidates of choice. It said it is also possible to draw a commission map that would give the Latine population the ability to elect candidates of choice in at least two out of the five districts.

“Dodge City’s at-large scheme intentionally and effectively dilutes the political voices of Latine Kansans in Dodge City,” Sharon Brett, Legal Director, ACLU of Kansas, said. “This system is reflective of a broader problem in Kansas, where those in power systematically seek to diminish minority voters and exclude them from the governing process. The Latine population in Dodge City deserves equal voice in shaping their local government, and federal law demands it.”

According to the organization, the current at-large system violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

The ACLU indicated that in 2018 it successfully filed a lawsuit that challenged the Ford Co. clerk’s decision to close and move a central polling location that served 13,000 registered Dodge City voters to outside of the city limits - another recent example of discrimination and barriers to voting that Latine voters in the city have faced.

To read the full complaint, click HERE.