Islip Caves - Will Give Latinos Their Own Voting District (Hempstead: live, zip code)

[BugsyPal]

The Town of Islip in Suffolk County reached a settlement on Wednesday with Latino residents who claimed their voting rights were diluted by a local election system that perpetually favored white voters.

The town of 330,000 people is about 30 percent Latino, but no Latino has ever been elected to Town Board. The plaintiffs blamed an at-large voting system in which the four board members are elected by everyone in the town. They claimed this disenfranchised Latinos, who live primarily in the western hamlets of Brentwood and Central Islip and could never muster enough votes to elect their preferred candidates.

https://gothamist.com/news/court-set...oting-district

[RPC324]

Considering Hempstead Town lost a similar lawsuit 20 years ago, I'm surprised there hasn't been more of a movement or mandate within the state to create council districts in all townships and replace at-large elections. One could argue that a particular zip code is disenfranchised by population regardless of the makeup of its residents.

[gx89]

Winning the battle loosing the war. So what they will get one seat of 4 on the board. Still to be outvoted 3-1 on everything

[olympicsos]

Originally Posted by gx89

Winning the battle loosing the war. So what they will get one seat of 4 on the board. Still to be outvoted 3-1 on everything

If Dorothy Goosby at TOH is any indication, I wouldn't be surprised if the sole Latino member sells out their own community to get along with their colleagues on the council.