Florida’s Osceola County ends fight on voting rights
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- April
- 9
Port Chester folks might be interested in the news out of Osceola, Florida, where a voting rights battle similar to the one under way locally seems to have reached an end.
Osceola County spent a reported $2 million fighting a Justice Department lawsuit before changing its voting system to single-member districts, which will give Hispanics a better shot at electing a candidate of their choice. The county school board, looking at a similar challenge, relented Tuesday. Board members will run in each of five districts instead of serving countywide.
The New York-based Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund had threatened to sue if the board did not change its at-large system, and voters in a referendum favored the change. Half of students in the Osceola school district are Hispanic, but no Hispanic has never been elected to the board.
“The school board did the right thing in giving the citizens of Osceola County what they asked for – fair elections,†Cesar Perales, PRLDEF’s president and general counsel said in a statement today. “We now urge those citizens who want to share power to run for office.â€
In Port Chester, the Justice Department is seeking a system of six voting districts, each electing a member to the village board. The Port Chester school board is not a part of the case.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 4:06 pm by Leah Rae.
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Category: Cesar Perales, Hispanics, Justice Department, Latinos, Osceola County, Port Chester, Port Chester voting rights, PRLDEF, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, voting rights, Voting Rights Act
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