Franklin commissioners move forward with redistricting despite voting rights lawsuit

The Franklin County commissioners created a committee this week to redraw their voting districts.

The move comes less than two weeks after the county was sued over claims the three commissioner district boundaries and an at-large voting system discriminates against Latino voters.

The three commissioners have been discussing creating the committee for months, but hadn’t voted on anything until Tuesday. The committee was not on the scheduled agenda.

Three local members of the League of United Latin American Citizens with the help of the UCLA Voting Rights project filed the suit in Franklin County Superior Court.

The county was notified more than six months ago that the lawsuit could be filed if the districts weren’t adjusted to better represent the county’s Latino population and changes made to how commissioners are elected.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Rocky Mullen made a motion at the end of the meeting to create a nine-person board to suggest options for new voting districts.

The committee would talk with Franklin County residents to “come up with a plan that is fair and equitable,” Mullen said during the meeting.

“We need to be moving forward. At this point, it seems like a lot of waiting,” he said.

While the members would be in place, they likely wouldn’t start working until after U.S. Census figures are updated.

After the motion, Commissioner Clint Didier detailed who should serve on the committee.

County Administrator Keith Johnson would lead it and include members from the county auditor’s office, Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Pasco Chamber of Commerce, Franklin County Farm Bureau, Franklin County’s Cattleman’s Association and the county’s Information system.

In addition, each commissioner would be allowed to pick one person for the committee.

“That will be a nine-person committee that will be headed up by Keith Johnson that will be ready to move when the census report comes out,” Didier said.

After the meeting, he told the Herald it would result in a good cross-section of the county. Any of the groups named could appoint a Latino member to the board.

“Why isn’t every ethnic group included? We’re all Americans. We all bleed red. We all got to work together,” he said.

Commissioner Brad Peck supported moving forward with redistricting, but was skeptical whether the commissioners would have much say in the matter now that the lawsuit is filed.

He suggested incorporating the League of Latin American Voters into the committee.

On an initial notice filed in October, the League of United Latin American Citizens said they would be willing to work with the county on a solution.

According to U.S. Census data, about 51,000 people in the county are Latino.

When Peck suggested inviting them, Didier said Peck could ask the group to be his appointment to the committee.

Didier told the Herald any of the groups could incorporate the league if they wanted to.

The motion came together fast enough that Peck asked if the two commissioners had discussed it before the meeting. They both denied talking about it outside of commissioner meetings, which would violate state open meetings laws.

Many of the details of the committee, including when it would start meeting and how it would collect information, were not discussed.

Latino voters lawsuit

An attorney with the voting rights group said the county will not be able to make any changes to the boundaries without court approval.

“The Washington Voting Rights Act requires Franklin County to obtain our client’s approval and court approval for any changes to the election system now,” said Sonni Waknin with the UCLA Voting Rights project.

The lawsuit calls for two changes. One is to redraw the districts to create a majority Latino district. The second is to hold district-only elections during the general election.

The Voting Rights Project argues a large portion of the Latino community is spread across all of the commissioners’ voting districts, making it hard for Latino voters to pick a candidate in the primary.

And if a candidate manages to clear the first hurdle, the person then needs to win in a general election that includes the entire county, rather than voters from just that district. That has led to a series of candidates supported by Latinos losing in the general election, according to the group.

The cities of Pasco and Yakima have been through lawsuits that required them to move to district-only elections. Yakima County is currently being sued to make similar changes.

Prosecutor Shawn Sant and an attorney hired for the case by the county, John Safarli, are working on a response to the lawsuit.