Order to redraw discriminatory WA district map is the right call

Though nearly gutted by a conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 remains one of the most important tools in preserving a true democracy in America. And nearly 60 years later, it has been used to protect the voting rights of residents of the 15th Legislative District in Central Washington.

Every 10 years, states rely on census data to redraw their legislative districts to reflect population changes and rebalance, or reapportion, congressional and legislative seats. In Washington, a bipartisan commission apportions the congressional and legislative districts.

Washington’s Redistricting Commission redrew the state’s legislative districts in 2021 in a long, drawn-out process that ended up at the state Supreme Court. Despite warnings and pleas by experts and community members from Yakima Valley, the commission created — and the state Legislature approved — new district boundaries that gave voting-age Latinos a slim majority of 51.5% in the 15th Legislative District.

A lawsuit claimed that despite the majority created by the new boundary, the district nevertheless failed to afford Latinos equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice “given the totality of the circumstances, including voter turnout, the degree of racial polarized voting in the area, a history of voter suppression and discrimination.” Though the new district has a majority of Latinos of voting age, the map included areas that historically have had lower voter turnout and carved out areas with high Latino voter participation. This “cracking” of the region can dilute the Latino vote, the plaintiffs argued.

Intervening defendants in the lawsuit argued that the new district should focus more on compactness and shared interests and less on race. They claimed that since Yakima is more than 80 miles from Pasco, the Latino populations in the region have different interests.

But the court disagreed, saying that Latinos in the Yakima Valley region form a community of interest based on more than just race. “While the community is by no means uniform or monolithic, its members share many of the same experiences and concerns regardless of whether they live in Yakima, Pasco, or along the highways and rivers in between,” Judge Robert Lasnik stated.

We applaud Lasnik’s decision and his order that requires the district be redrawn before the 2024 elections.

Indeed, race does matter in politics, but so does a history of discrimination and voting patterns.

Past discrimination against Latinos, including at-large local elections that the state’s voting rights act was designed to correct, created a lack of confidence in the election process, and thereby resulted in a dearth of candidates who truly represent Latino voters — those who are aligned with their interests, perspectives and experiences.

The judge has rightly ordered the commission to redraw the district before the 2024 legislative session. Though given the dynamics of the Legislature and a lame duck governor, that is unlikely to happen in the next five months.

Lasnik should be prepared to closely shepherd the task of creating a fair map, with or without input from both parties.

Given the current political climate nationally and in Washington, voter rights will continue to come under attack. If history is our road map to the future, Washington’s courts will continue to be looked to for relief and solutions.