YAKIMA, Wash. — The city of Yakima will file a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a case that could upend the city’s new elections system.
The City Council on Wednesday unanimously asked its attorneys to submit a friend-of-the-court brief in a Texas case that seeks to define the “one person, one vote” principle.
The Yakima Herald-Republican reports the Texas case raises the question of whether the federal government should require state and local governments to draw election districts based on eligible voters or total population.
Most governments use total population to set districts, but the plaintiffs say that method creates an imbalance that dilutes the power of the vote in districts that happen to have greater voting-age populations.
A federal judge recently ordered Yakima to create voting districts.
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