A Seattle-based litigation team won a significant victory in a lawsuit alleging that the at-large election system utilized by the City of Yakima to elect members of its City Council impermissibly dilutes Latino voting strength and does not allow for equal participation by Latinos in the election process.

Working in conjunction with the ACLU of Washington and on behalf of Yakima residents, Perkins Coie challenged Yakima’s election system under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  The lawsuit was filed in August 2012 and after intensive discovery, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment in July 2014.

In his August 2014 opinion, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice of the Eastern District of Washington denied the city’s summary judgment motion and granted our summary judgment motion in its entirety.

Powerful Evidence of Racially Polarized Voting

The court found “powerful evidence” of racially polarized voting, noting that “no Latino candidate has ever been elected to the Yakima City Council” even though Latinos constitute roughly 41 percent of the total population of Yakima and one-third of the city’s voting age population.  The court ruled, “In the final analysis, there is only one rational conclusion to be drawn from the undisputed evidence recounted above: that the non-Latino majority in Yakima routinely suffocates the voting preferences of the Latino minority.”

The court directed the parties to submit a joint proposed injunction and joint proposed remedial districting plan by October 3, 2014.  It is unclear if and when the City of Yakima will appeal Judge Rice’s order.

Pro Bono Partnership with Starbucks

In addition to our work with the ACLU, Perkins Coie has a pro bono partnership with Starbucks and a group of its in-house attorneys volunteered their time to assist in this case, which included reviewing voluminous documents produced in discovery.

Perkins Coie members on the Yakima case include partner Kevin Hamilton, counsel Abha Khanna, who argued the summary judgment motion, counsel Ben Stafford, associates Ulrike Connelly and Mica Simpson, and paralegal Kimball Mullins.