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A legislative map that shifts some voters in South Thurston County from the 20th Legislative District to the Second Legislative District will likely be used in the upcoming election after a federal appeals court declined a motion to stay the maps on Friday.
The shift in Southwest Washington’s legislative boundaries is just one of many in the state after a federal judge's ruling the previous map violated the rights of voters in south-central Washington. The case, Soto Palmer v. Hobbs, centered around the 15th Legislative District, which stretches from Yakima to Pasco.
In August, a judge found the previous maps split the region’s Hispanic population between multiple districts, diluting their voting power. The new map will connect Latino communities from East Yakima in Yakima County to Pasco in Franklin County.
In a news release, Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined a motion to stay the maps on Friday, which paved the way for the maps’ use in November.
“This is a sham lawsuit brought for raw political power. The Democrats knew they could not get this through the bipartisan Redistricting Commission process so they brought a couple of lawsuits hoping they could find a sympathetic judge to buy in. They found one in Judge Lasnik,” Braun said in a statement. “We can only hope that at some point, the United States Supreme Court will right the wrong that has been done in this process.”
After the map’s release, Republicans throughout the state decried the legislative boundaries, with Fifteenth District Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, writing in a statement she was “personally very disappointed in Judge Laznik.
“He allowed the misuse of the Voting Rights Act to allow a partisan gerrymander of the Washington state redistricting map,” Torres wrote. “This map DECREASES the numbers of Hispanics in Washington’s Majority-Minority district.”
On Monday, Braun said the new maps are “nothing but a judicial gerrymander.”
“These gerrymandered maps push three Republican Senators out of their districts and I believe, two Republican Representatives. Of course, no Democrat legislators were affected,” Braun said Monday. “These gerrymandered maps displace 500,000 people from thirteen districts around the state when intervenors showed it could be done with only 80,000 people and three districts.”
Following the map’s release, the UCLA Voting Rights Project (UCLA VRP), which brought the lawsuit, said the selected map “was preferred for its ability to consolidate Latino communities into a unified district, thereby enhancing their voting strength and ensuring their voices are heard in legislative processes.”
“We are thrilled with the Judge’s decision to adopt Map 3B. This ruling is not just a victory for the Latino communities in Washington state, but it also sends hope to all underrepresented communities fighting for fair representation in the United States,” said Sonni Waknin, program manager and voting rights counsel at the UCLA VRP, in a statement on March 15. “This case underscores the importance of safeguarding the rights of all citizens to participate in our democracy equitably.”
