GALEO Plans to Sue Gainesville

At-large voting allows all Gainesville residents to vote for each city representative instead of voting by district.  But GALEO’s Executive Director Jerry Gonzalez says at-large voting discriminates against the city’s growing Latino population.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in voting practices or procedures. 

“The current process of voting at large dilutes the Latino community’s ability to able to influence or select candidates of their choice in those districts,” Gonzalez says.

A Latino candidate has announced his bid for mayor, and another is running for a city Council seat in November’s election.

Gonzalez says the system has discouraged Latino citizens from voting and from running for office.

However, the city maintains the voting process has been fair.

“At an at-large system has never been held to be per se unconstitutional,” says Bob Brinson, an attorney representing the city. “In fact, it has it’s own good things about it in that all voters in all  Gainesville get to vote for all councilmen”

In 1996, a similar lawsuit was filed against the city.  Brinson says the court ruled then the system did not discriminate.  

It has a fine record that Gainesville has progressed under the at-large system and there has been no evidence otherwise that there’s been discrimination against anybody.

But Gonzalez says a lot has changed since 1996.

“For the city to be citing that as a reason for not making any changes now is really ignorant of how the Voting Rights Act actually works,” Gonzalez says. “Demographics have changed, the number have changed, and the districts have changed.”

According to the 2010 census, more than 40 percent of the city’s population is Hispanic or Latino.

GALEO plans to file the lawsuit by September 15^th after raising funds.