SAN ANTONIO—A Latino civil rights organization is suing the City of Greeley, Colorado, and its officials over the City Council redistricting map because it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and dilutes the representation of Latino residents, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court.
MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) filed the lawsuit on behalf of three Latino voters, Lisa and Brian Bernal, and Rachel Sanchez, who reside in Ward I of the City of Greeley. MALDEF filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
“Over its long history, malapportionment has been used to preserve those in power and to slow or defeat the rise of rapidly growing minority groups,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “Despite the harm done to the Voting Rights Act by the current Supreme Court majority, there remain strong tools to target racial discrimination designed to maintain those already in power.”
The City of Greeley is governed by a seven-member City Council, which includes the mayor. The City’s redistricting plan divides the city into four wards, from which four members of the City Council are elected. In addition to the ward-based seats, the City Council includes two at-large members.
According to the complaint, following the 2020 Census, Greeley adopted a redistricting plan that placed significantly more residents in Wards I and II than in Wards III and IV.
The lawsuit alleges that residents of the overpopulated wards suffer reduced representation on the City Council and diluted electoral strength. The complaint further alleges that the wards with the largest populations also contain the highest percentages of Latino residents. Ward I is approximately 54.5% Latino, and Ward II is approximately 44.9% Latino, while the less populous wards contain substantially lower percentages of Latino residents.
According to the lawsuit, “the City purposefully enacted a grossly malapportioned redistricting plan” that violates the “one person, one vote” principle because it does not comply with the requirement that election districts be roughly equal in population. Attorneys argue that the ideal population for Greeley’s wards is approximately 27,199 people per ward. But the City’s map creates an over 10,000-resident difference between the least and most populous wards, resulting in irreparable harm to residents of the overpopulated wards. According to the lawsuit, the malapportionment harms the oversized wards’ residents because they must compete with more people for the resources of their city councilmember, and that councilmember has to serve more people with the same resources as those representing the less populated wards. In addition, the malapportionment harms the oversized wards’ residents by diluting their electoral strength.
“Greeley purposefully packed Latinos into overpopulated Wards I and II while providing greater representation and electoral potential to Wards III and IV,” said Antonio DelGrande, MALDEF Staff Attorney. “The lopsided populations across City Council districts violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal treatment in apportionment.”
MALDEF asks the court to declare Greeley’s current redistricting plan unconstitutional, prohibit the city from conducting future elections under the current map, and require the city to adopt constitutionally compliant districts. Attorneys are also asking for a special election for the district-based City Council seats under a redrawn map, along with any other appropriate relief to ensure that future elections are conducted using properly apportioned wards.
“I am deeply disappointed that it appears our city chose to leave my community, which is Ward I, along with Ward II, with many more residents than the other two wards, diluting our voices and creating unequal representation,” said Lisa Bernal. “Every resident deserves an equal opportunity to be heard, and when ward lines are drawn in a way that places some communities at a disadvantage, it undermines confidence in our local government and denies us fair representation.”
The lawsuit names the City of Greeley, the mayor and members of the City Council, and the Greeley city clerk and city manager as defendants.
Read the complaint HERE.