For several years now, proposals to implement a state Voting Rights Act (VRA) have been introduced and debated in the Legislature. Under existing federal law if a Washington voter is a member of a minority group (in race, color, or language) and believes that local voting procedures denied them equal opportunity to participate in the nomination and election process to elect a representative of their choice, they can challenge the local procedures in federal court.

This session, the Legislature passed the Washington Voting Rights Act (SB 6002), which says that any local voter can challenge a local governments’ voting procedures in state court after providing the local jurisdiction with notice. SB 6002 also amends state statute to expressly allow non-charter code cities, second class cities, and towns to voluntarily adopt district-based election systems (or other types of voting methods) in general elections to address a potential violation of the Act.

SB 6002, as passed, includes the following provisions:

• Applies to cities and towns with a population of 1,000 or more. It also applies to school districts with 250 or more full-time students, counties, fire districts, port districts, and public utility districts. It does not apply to statewide elections.
• A local voter must provide notice to a local government if they intend to challenge the election process. A notice may not be submitted before July 19, 2018.
• After receiving notice, the jurisdiction must work in good faith with the voter – to determine if there is a plausible violation and, if there is, to propose a remedy. The local jurisdiction has a statutorily specified time to adopt a remedy and have it approved by a court – 180 days if notice is received by July 1, 2021, and 90 days if notice is received after July 1, 2021. If no action is taken by this deadline, the voter may file a claim in state court.
• During review of the proposed remedy, the court would traditionally give deference to the city’s adopted remedy because it was the result of council legislative action. However, the VRA changes the legal standard to one that favors the voter. The court views the facts and inferences from those facts from the perspective of the voter. In addition, the city must prove their adopted remedy will address the alleged violation.
• If a violation under the Act is determined, the court may order the jurisdiction to adopt a district-based election process, may order redistricting, or another remedy.
• Depending on the timing of adoption of districts or other changes, special elections would be triggered for council positions with more than two years remaining.
• If the local jurisdiction adopts a court-approved remedy no legal action may be brought against the local jurisdiction for four years.

AWC has weighed in on VRA proposals at various points over the past seven years. In the end, some of our ideas were incorporated and others were not. While not all of our suggestions made it into the final bill passed by the Legislature, the final product is better than the original we saw a number of years ago. We appreciate the contacts city officials made with legislators.

Wrongful death

A bill to expand local government’s liability under the wrongful death statues failed to pass the Legislature. The bill would have added additional claimants and increased the potential for damages – altering the balance in current law between recovery and fairness after a tragedy. AWC opposed the bill as part of a coalition of hospitals, doctors, local governments, and business interests. The bill is expected to return in some form next year.

AWC’s next steps

As we switch gears from an advocacy role to engaging with all our cities and towns on implementation of the VRA, look for coverage on this topic in our next issue of Cityvision and at our AWC Annual Conference in Yakima, June 26-29. We also expect to provide various guidance resources, including a webinar, and will be looking for opportunities to help cities talk through ways to use this Act to enhance engagement in your community.