When talking about voting rights cases, the news media often talks about the big cases that involve gerrymandering, voter identification and redistricting, but a lot of legal action around voting actually happens in small cities and towns. And a growing number of those cases are being brought by Latino voters.
Brentwood is a Hispanic neighborhood within the mostly white town of Islip on Long Island, N.Y.. In the town of Islip, voting is done “at large”, which means there aren’t any districts. Instead, the whole town, which is primarily white, votes for all the elected officials together, which makes it difficult for representatives from minority communities–such as the Latino voters in Brentwood–to get representation in city government.
Things came to a head in Islip when the town board, all white, closed the public swimming pool in Brentwood. The town of Islip said it needed to pay for repairs in other parts of the town: those parts happened to be wealthier and whiter.
Because at-large elections make it hard for Latinos and other minorities to win elections, Latino voters in Brentwood feel their vote is being diluted. So they sued. Across the country, other Latinos are doing the same, whether it’s because of what they say are unfair redistricting plans or onerous voter ID laws.
Fred Brewington is one of the attorneys bringing the suit in Islip. He says, on top of a growing population, many Latinos are also besieged with poverty, unequal education and, in Brentwood specifically, the violent street gang MS-13. Nationally, starting in 2006 and every year since, more voting rights cases have been started by Hispanic voters than African-Americans. Over the last 10 years, Latinos have initiated twice as many legal actions than all other groups combined.
Although the town of Islip has not yet said how it will respond to the lawsuit, an opposing view is provided by Michael Carvin, a conservative lawyer who fights against voting rights cases. Mr. Carvin does not believe that district lines should be drawn to accommodate racial and ethnic groups, as it is no longer true that minorities only vote for themselves and racially segregated voting districts take us away from a post-racial ideal.
This story was produced by Charles Lane and aired on All Things Considered on National Public Radio (NPR). Listen to this story in its entirety online: