YAKIMA, Wash. -- Voting-rights groups want Yakima County residents to rank candidates in elections.

How would that benefit the county?

Latino community members and other groups have sued the Board of Yakima County Commissioners under the Washington Voting Rights Act, alleging the current election system disenfranchises the large Latino population.

Colin Cole, policy director for the group More Equitable Democracy said under ranked choice, winning candidates would need to get at least 25% of votes.

He said under the new system, if a voter's preferred candidate failed to reach that threshold, their second choice would move to the top of their list.

"If you can walk into an ice cream shop, you ask for rocky road, and they say they don't have it - if you understand that you don't have to leave the store because you have a second choice - if you get that, you get ranked-choice voting," Cole explained.

Latinos make up about half of the county's population. For its countywide elections of three seats, Latinos have only won a seat once.

The city of Yakima faced a similar issue and drew districts to create better representation. But Cole noted Latinos are widely dispersed throughout the county, making districts less effective.

Aaron Hamlin, executive director for the Center for Election Science, said there are many varieties of ranked-choice voting.

He said the process has to be well-explained and transparent to the public to work effectively, but has potential to create better representation.

"It would definitely give people more of a sense of involvement and empowerment," Hamlin said. "And seeing that through their vote they're actually having a meaningful outcome in terms of making sure that people who represent them are being elected."

Robin Engle, communications and development director for OneAmerica, said the Latino population in Yakima County has been frustrated with the commission, especially in response to COVID-19, which is disproportionately affecting Latinos.

"We heard again and again that the county commission doesn't represent the Latino community, doesn't invest in the Latino community," Engle said. "And that just the way that the democracy is working in Yakima County isn't working."

The Board of Yakima County Commissioners is being sued under the Washington Voting Rights Act but could settle the case.

Commissioners have expressed interest in working with the community to come up with a solution. Two dozen jurisdictions across the country have adopted ranked-choice voting.

Unions, environmental groups and other progressive organizations are leading the charge to reform California's referendum process, which allows voters to repeal laws passed by the legislature.

Assembly Bill 421 came about after the oil industry gathered signatures to repeal a law blocking new drilling in neighborhoods.

Asm. Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, who introduced the bill, said the current system incentivizes signature gatherers to mislead voters.

"The oil companies then spent nearly $25 million in 90 days to gather the signatures to pause the law, so they could apply for new drilling permits and put it on the referendum," Bryan recounted. "And there was hours of documented video evidence that many of the signature gatherers were just outright lying to people."

Currently, it is legal to word a referendum in a confusing way, in which a "yes" vote would overturn the law in question. Under the proposed bill, voters would simply decide whether to keep or repeal the law. The California Chamber of Commerce opposes the measure, arguing it would make signature gathering more expensive and should require a constitutional amendment.

Bryan added the bill would require signature gatherers to wear a badge with their name, identification number and photo.

"Folks should have to have adequate training and also be registered," Bryan contended. "So that it's clear that, if they are violating the ethics of signature gathering, that can be reported in a way that's accountable."

The bill would require petitions to identify the referendum's top three donors and mandates at least 10% of signature gatherers be community-based volunteers. The bill has already passed the State Assembly. Its next stop is the State Senate Elections Committee.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


get more stories like this via email

A court hearing next week could help determine whether an eastern South Dakota mayor will face a recall election. Events are rare for this state, but there is a strong appetite for "direct democracy," according to one expert. The legal wrangling surrounding a possible recall vote concerns the mayor of Baltic, with the next hearing scheduled for June 15th.

Joshua Spivak, author and senior research fellow at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College and expert on recall elections, said South Dakota law prevents statewide officeholders from being recalled; it has set a tone that even local leaders have rarely. But he said residents and activist groups are showing a lot of interest in statewide ballot initiatives.

"Voters like this," he said. "And it's not a conservative and it's not a liberal position to like direct democracy."

Spivak added several proposed statewide ballot questions are already going through approval stages for the 2024 election. It follows high-profile questions put before South Dakota voters in recent years. He described it as a "counter-pushback" toward legislative efforts to add more requirements for initiated measures. Those who support such moves worry about what they call "citizen lawmakers" working around the Legislature.

In states where restrictions to circulating petitions for ballot questions have been added, it has often been Republican lawmakers pushing for those changes. So far, Spivak explained, those policymakers have not paid the price come election time. But he added it is fair to question if their constituents will eventually have a change of heart.

"There is a strong possibility, especially if somebody's running an insurgent campaign against these election officials saying, 'Hey, I support your right to make your own choices.' They didn't," he said.

Experts say the dynamic is interesting for South Dakota because it was the first state to adopt the initiative and referendum process on a statewide level. As for recall elections, Spivak's research notes there is only one documented vote happening in South Dakota in the past dozen years. That happened in Whitewood, where the election official in question survived the effort to vote them out of office.


get more stories like this via email

The Keystone State's general election is less than six months away and a nonpartisan, grassroots organization is already getting the word out to residents about the importance of voting and voter registration.

Pennsylvania has more than 8.7 million registered voters, but it is estimated the voter turnout during the municipal primary election was only 27.5%.

Becky Wyss, president of the League of Women Voters of Westmoreland County, said they are hoping to see a better turnout in November.

"The turnout was very light in Westmoreland County," Wyss pointed out. "I looked up the newspaper accounts of it. And the overall turnout for the primary was 29%. But that's up from 24.5% in 2019 when many of the same races were on the ballot."

Wyss noted they are committed to having Vote411.org set up for Westmoreland County in time for the general election. The League's national website is a one-stop shop for election information. Anyone can check their voter registration status, find their polling place or request a mail-in ballot. By entering a mailing address, voters can also see a guide to the specific races and candidates on their ballots.

Wyss explained turnout may have been low because of uncontested races, and independent voters may have been unsure about how Pennsylvania's closed primaries work. The League held a "Timely Topics Speaker Series," to help educate voters, and Wyss encouraged residents to attend the next speaker series.

"In the fall, we have two speaker series on the school board," Wyss said. "One is on school board governance. The second is on financing for schools. So we're hoping that will generate a lot of interest in getting people out to the general election. Because school boards, there's just a ton of school board elections going on right now."

Judy Clack, vice president of voter services for the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, said the overall turnout there improved from 16.5% four years ago to 31% this year. She noted the district attorney and county executive race was contested this time, but four years ago, it was not contested.

"Mail in, 35% of our 31% who voted, voted by mail, 35% in Allegheny County, and our county has become very supportive of mail-in voting," Clack observed.

Clack added voting integrity is a top priority and contends the election process in Pennsylvania is secure.

"There is no fraud in Pennsylvania," Clack contended. "If you get a mail-in ballot, it is keyed to your voter registration. When you return it, they scan it and they see Judy Clack turned in her mail-in ballot. That is given to where my polling place is, and so I could not go vote again."


get more stories like this via email