Franklin commissioners debate new districts in face of Hispanic voter discrimination lawsuit
Franklin County’s redistricting committee unveiled four possible maps for what their commissioner districts could look like.
But only two caught the attention of the dozens of people attending the county commission meeting Tuesday night.
One would place two districts within the city limits. The other would slice the city into three pieces and make the districts stretch north-south.
The results of the 2020 U.S. Census require county officials to draw new boundaries so that the populations in each of the three districts are nearly equal.
In the past week, a committee created to help draw the boundaries has held public meetings in Pasco, Connell and Mesa to collect feedback from people. They returned to the commissioners on Tuesday night with four options.
Whichever is picked will next be scrutinized by a Superior Court judge because of a voter discrimination lawsuit filed earlier this year by three local members of the League of United Latin American Citizens with help from the UCLA Voting Rights Project.
They argue that the way the commissioner district lines were drawn, combined with using an at-large election system shuts Latinos out of picking the candidate they want.
Gabriel Portugal, one of the men suing, along with several other Pasco residents, spoke in favor of having two districts in the city limits. One of those districts would include the heavily Latino east Pasco. The map mirrors a suggestion made by the UCLA attorneys.
The map would divide Pasco at Highway 395 with each district having about 32,000 people and make a single northern Franklin County district of about 32,000.
Supporters of that plan pointed out most of the county’s population lives in Pasco, and it also represents the largest portion of the tax base.
“Two thirds of the population of Franklin County lives in the city of Pasco,” Portugal said. “One third lives in the northern part. The Washington State Voting Rights Act gives us the opportunity to make voting fair for everyone.”
On the other side, several people, including the members of the Franklin County Republican Party, wanted to give northern Franklin County three commissioner district by dividing the county north to south.
That choice would divide Pasco at Highway 395, then create a section that runs between the highway and Road 52 and then a west Pasco district that would include the rest of the city. This was a suggestion that came up during public hearings in north Franklin County.
Several of supporters of that map pointed out that would mean each commissioner would represent a cross section of the county. They also noted that most of the county’s budget is spent outside of Pasco, so having more representation would make sure the money is spent better.
“I think it’s the fair and equitable representation,” said James Gimenez, a Franklin County GOP precinct committee officer who has intervened in the voting rights act lawsuit. “This looks good to me.”
Commissioner reaction
A recent court decision letting the county back out of an agreement in the lawsuit has extended the timeline for the commissioners to decide on the new districts.
They have scheduled a committee meeting that will be held in Spanish at Virgie Robinson Elementary on Nov. 15.
County Administrator Keith Johnson said there is no hard deadline for when a formal proposal will be made. The commissioners have another meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 26 at the HAPO Center in Pasco, but redistricting isn’t likely to be part of that agenda.
The attorneys for the League are expecting a trial on the redistricting issue before the end of the year, but it’s unclear at this point whether that will happen.
County Commissioner Brad Peck questioned whether the residents in northern Franklin County should have more of a say in how money is spent then people in the city.
Peck, who represents the only district entirely contained by Pasco, pointed out people living in the city can represent agricultural interests as well.
He noted that Franklin County Farm Bureau President James Alford lives in Peck’s district.
“There’s lots of people who live in the city who can represent farm interests, and there are lots of people who live in the north county who can represent city interests,” Peck said.
Commissioners Clint Didier and Rocky Mullen focused on criticizing the lawsuit.
It bothered Mullen that court documents say that he isn’t the choice for Latino voters. He noted he was endorsed twice by the Spanish newspaper in Pasco.
“That would indicate that I was the choice,” Mullen said. “Maybe not entirely. No election is perfect. Nothing in this life is perfect. You have to work hard for what you want, and I would like to feel that I represent the county to make it an equal opportunity for everyone.”
Didier appeared to be leaning toward the map that divides Pasco into three sections, saying that it would give an opportunity for every commissioner to live in Pasco.
Most of his comments were aimed at the criticizing efforts to create an east Pasco district. He said only one Latino candidate has run for county commissioner in the past 20 years. He blamed that election for the lawsuit.
“We got to stop this nonsense. I don’t care what lawsuit, what they’re going to come at us with, if we stick together as a community, they won’t beat us,” he said. “But if you want to divide us and you want us to fight among one another. They will.”
This story was originally published October 20, 2021 at 12:51 PM.