On June 15, 2023, The Supreme Court of Washington upheld the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA), protecting Washington voters from discrimination on the basis of race, color, or language minority group.

On March 27, 2023, In conjunction with Civil Rights and Justice Clinic University of Washington School of Law, ELC filed a brief of Law School Clinics focused on Civil Rights as Amici Curiae. The brief argues the rights the Washington Voting Rights Act (“WVRA”) creates flow to members of all racial groups, and the remedies it envisions can be entirely race-neutral. It contends the WVRA is not at odds with the Equal Protection Clause, as Appellant James Gimenez argues. Oral argument is set to be held on May 11, 2023.

On June 7, 2022, there was an intervening appeal to the Supreme Court of the State of Washington.

On January 3, 2022, Judge Mitchell dismissed the motion for judgment on the pleadings. He appeared to rely on the arguments outlined in the amicus brief we submitted

On December 2, 2021, ELC, along with co-counsel Campaign Legal Center (CLC), represented amicus party OneAmerica, the largest organizing, civic engagement, and advocacy organization in Washington, with grassroots community members across the state. OneAmerica was a key stakeholder that pushed for the adoption of the WVRA in 2018. The amicus brief argues that the WVRA is not a racial gerrymander in violation of the equal protection clauses of the federal or state constitutions. 

On November 10, 2021, an Intervenor-Defendant to a case under the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) challenged the law as a racial gerrymander in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution (and as a violation of the equal protection clause of the Washington Constitution). 

BACKGROUND

The Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) was enacted in 2018 to vindicate the right of Washington voters to be free from discriminatory local election systems. Building on the protections of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, the WVRA provides a remedy in state law for discriminatory race-based vote dilution by allowing voters to challenge election systems that dilutes their votes and denies them equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The WVRA also allows any political subdivision to proactively change its electoral system to remedy a potential violation. 

The plaintiffs in the underlying case are the League of United Latin American Citizens and three Latino voters who live in Franklin County and are represented by the UCLA Voting Rights Project. Plaintiffs allege that the Franklin County Commission’s at-large electoral system violates the WVRA by denying the Latino community the ability to regularly elect itscandidates of choice.  An unopposed summary judgment motion was granted in the case on September 13, 2021, but was later vacated on October 11, 2021. The motion for judgment on the pleadings was filed by an Intervenor-Defendant on November 10, 2021.

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