Post by Logan on Jan 11, 2017 20:18:13 GMT -6
DETROIT — The Justice Department is suing a Detroit suburb, alleging that it violates the Voting Rights Act by denying black residents an equal opportunity to elect city council members of their choice.
The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Detroit, says no black candidate has ever served on the Eastpointe City Council and that white voters have consistently opposed and defeated black voters’ preferred black candidates. It seeks a court order that would force Eastpointe to change how its city council is elected. It currently consists of the mayor and four council members who serve staggered four-year terms.
Of the 32,000 people living in Eastpointe in 2010, nearly 10,000 were black, according to the U.S. Census. Current estimates place the city’s black population at closer to 40 percent.
Eastpointe’s black voters consistently vote for black city council and school board candidates, however none of them have ever been elected, the lawsuit contends.
Read more: www.toledoblade.com/Nation/2017/01/11/Lawsuit-Detroit-suburb-Eastpointe-denies-blacks-equal-voting-rights.html
The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Detroit, says no black candidate has ever served on the Eastpointe City Council and that white voters have consistently opposed and defeated black voters’ preferred black candidates. It seeks a court order that would force Eastpointe to change how its city council is elected. It currently consists of the mayor and four council members who serve staggered four-year terms.
Of the 32,000 people living in Eastpointe in 2010, nearly 10,000 were black, according to the U.S. Census. Current estimates place the city’s black population at closer to 40 percent.
Eastpointe’s black voters consistently vote for black city council and school board candidates, however none of them have ever been elected, the lawsuit contends.
Read more: www.toledoblade.com/Nation/2017/01/11/Lawsuit-Detroit-suburb-Eastpointe-denies-blacks-equal-voting-rights.html