1980-01-09 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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.~-~-_-~ ~. ~~' ~,~ ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL Knox W. Askins, City Attorney Post Office Box La Porte, Texas ~~. r l , ~ ~ l :i ,f • Dear Mr. Askins: ~niteD ~tate~ ~J9epartment of ~litgtice WASHINGTON, D.C. 20530 Esq. 1115 77571 This is in reference to the revisions of the Home Rule Charter for the City of La Porte, Harris County, Texas, to provide for a council elected to three-year staggered terms with a majority-vote requirement from four single-member districts and three designated at-large posts, and the apportionment plan for the four single-member districts, submitted to the Attorney General pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended. Your submission of the charter revisions was completed on November 1, 1979, and your submission of the apportionment plan was received on October 30, 1979. Under Section 5, the City of La Porte has the burden of proving that the proposed electoral system does not represent a retrogression in the position of either the black or Spanish- language residents of the city, and that it does not transgress constitutional limits with respect to either group. See Beer v. United States, 425 U.S. 150 (1976). See also 28 C.F.R. 51.19. Under White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755, 766 (1973), to prove the constitutionality of its system the city must prove that the electoral system is equally open to black, Spanish-language and white voters, and that each group has~a fair opportunity to elect candidates of its choice. We have given careful consideration to the informa- tion you have provided as well as to comments and information provided by other interested parties. In addition to other evidence of a general pattern of racially polarized voting in La Porte, we have noted particularly the fact that, in spite of a number of black candidacies, no black person has ever won election to the La Porte municipal governing body. We have been presented with and have considered information evidencing a lack C1