HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022.11.07 Council Meeting Public Comment Submission from Gabriel PortugalTO: Honorable Council Members
FROM: Tri -Cities LULAC Council
RE: City of Pasco 2022 Redistricting Map
DATE: November 7, 2022
Our observations:
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CITIZENS
TRI -CITIES 'WASHINGTON
COUNCIL #47014
PO Box 3381
Pasco, WA 99302
• The process for this redistricting has been rushed and has not followed any
time of formal procedure.
• The city has known since the 2017 lawsuit that the city would be required to
redistrict in 2022. The city only notified city residents of the intent to
redistrict and implement new maps in late October of 2022, days before the
state required redistricting deadline.
• Citizens have only had one meeting Nov. 2nd to provide formal feedback to
the City on the proposed map, which may possibly dilute Latino voters in
District 2.
• The City of Pasco settled a lawsuit under Section 2 of the federal voting
rights act in 2017 and should have understood its districting obligations.
• The new District 2, which is a Latino district that was designed under the
federal settlement, is the most changed district in the new plan and there has
been no explanation for why District 2 has changed so much.
• District 2 looks as if the demographer and city are trying to place high-
density white precincts from western Pasco into a Latino majority district in
an attempt to dilute the Latino vote.
• District 2 has an appendage or finger that juts out into District 5
unnecessarily. The precincts in the appendage, precincts 48, 63, and 41, are
majority white precincts. Instead, District 2 should have precincts 62 and
105, and all of precinct 36, instead of a precinct split.
• On the 2022 Map, a person can drive through District 5, enter District 2, and
then reenter District 5. That is not a compact district. District 2 should be on
the east of Road 60.
• Please keep our community of interest together and do not attempt to dilute
our vote against the law.