Voting Rights NewsTaco November 14, 2016

Five Hispanics sue the Pasadena City Council municipal districts redesign

*MALDEF attorneys are in Pasadena, Texas, this week, starting work on this voting rights case. VL

By Alvaro Ortiz, Houston Chronicle (3 minute read) houston-chronicle-logo

Five Hispanic residents of Pasadena (Texas) filed a lawsuit against their City Council in federal court yesterday because of the redesign of the city’s municipal districts which, according to the plaintiffs, dilutes the Latino vote.

After the U.S. Supreme Court released Texas and its sub-jurisdictions from federal oversight of voting changes in June 2013, the Pasadena City Council passed a measure in August of last year to include a proposition in the November 2013 ballot regarding the redesign of the districts.

Proposition 1 had been promoted by long time Pasadena Mayor Johnny Isbell and was narrowly adopted by the voters of Pasadena by a margin of 79 votes out of 6,429 votes cast.
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The effect of the redesign was that Pasadena changed from eight individual municipal districts to six individual districts and two at-large. READ MORE 

[Photo courtesy of PasadenaTaxi]

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