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PORT CHESTER---The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has filed a voting rights lawsuit in White Plains federal court against the Village of Port Chester, alleging that Port Chester's system of electing members of its Board of Trustees violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The complaint alleges that Port Chester's at-large system, under which all village residents vote for each member of the board of trustees, results in Hispanic citizens having less opportunity than white citizens to participate in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice to the Port Chester Board of Trustees. With the complaint, the United States also filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction preventing Port Chester from using the at-large system in its next election for two positions on the board of trustees, scheduled for March 2007.
According to the complaint, the Port Chester Board of Trustees is composed of seven members, consisting of six trustees and the mayor. The trustees are elected at large by all the voters in Port Chester, and serve staggered three-year terms. According to the government's papers, although Hispanics constitute 46% of Port
Chester's population, and 22% of the citizen voting age population, no Hispanic has ever been elected to the board of trustees.
The complaint also alleges that voting in Port Chester is polarized by race and ethnicity, in that Hispanic voters almost always vote cohesively for the candidate they prefer, and the white majority usually and routinely votes sufficiently as a bloc to defeat the minority's preferred candidate. The complaint also alleges that Port Chester's minority citizens bear the effects of historical discrimination in the areas of housing, education, and health that hinder their ability to participate in the political system on an equal basis with whites.
The complaint further alleges that the Hispanic population of Port Chester is sufficiently numerous and geographically compact that a properly apportioned, single-member district plan for electing its board of trustees can be drawn in which Hispanic voters would constitute a majority in at least one district out of six.
To comply with the Voting Rights Act, the United States argues in its papers, Port Chester must adopt a district plan, in which Hispanic voters in Port Chester would have an opportunity to elect a candidate from their district. The United States also stated in its papers that Port Chester was advised by the government in April 2006 that its at-large system violated the Voting Rights Act, and the United States provided it with proposed district plans in August. On Dec. 4, the Port Chester Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution stating that it believes there is no Voting Rights Act violation.
12-18-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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