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August 07, 2006
Springfield MA- Mayor Objects to Voting Rights Lawsuit
Mayor objects to U.S. lawsuit
Friday, August 04, 2006
By JO-ANN MORIARTY and NATALIA MUÑOZ
Staff writers
WASHINGTON - Springfield Mayor Charles V. Ryan yesterday denounced as rash a voting rights lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the city.
The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that it had filed a suit stating that the city violated the Voting Rights Act regarding Spanish-speaking voters.
Ryan said yesterday that neither he nor anyone in City Hall had ever received complaints about voting rights issues. Furthermore, he said, the Justice Department gave officials who had not seen the complaint virtually 48 hours to sign a consent decree in which the city would have been placed under federal oversight or face a lawsuit.
Ryan said he chose to settle the matter in court where the federal department will have to present evidence.
"I would fight on behalf of anyone to make sure that the polls are open to them," said Ryan, but regarding the lawsuit, "We have no basis to even begin to think that this is a problem."
City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula agreed that Springfield could do a better job assisting Spanish-speaking residents vote in elections, but accused the Justice Department of using "heavy-handed tactics" against the city in its decision to file a federal case so quickly.
Springfield is among four cities where the Justice Department has become involved in election matters. The other cities are Boston, Lawrence and Lowell. All have large Hispanic populations.
Secretary of State Michael Galvin, the state's chief voting rights enforcer, did not return a message left at his office yesterday.
The federal complaint states that poll workers were hostile to Hispanic and Spanish-speaking voters and denied them the right to be assisted by the person of their choice.
According to the 2000 census, Springfield has a population of 152,080 people of whom 41,360 are Hispanic. Hispanic people make up 27.2 percent of the city's population and 22 percent of the voting age population. However, 42.1 percent of the voting-age Hispanic people or 9,560 residents are not proficient in English.
"Spanish-speaking voters in Springfield have faced difficulties and rude treatment at the polls," the federal complaint reads. "In some cases, Spanish-speaking voters have left the polls without casting a ballot due to the absence of bilingual assistance and interference by poll workers."
The complaint states that the city has failed to provide effective election-related information and assistance to Spanish-speaking voters and failed to recruit and train an adequate pool of bilingual poll officials.
Pikula agreed Springfield needs more bilingual poll workers. But, he said, that state law hamstrings the city's ability to hire poll workers because the state law says the city shall draw its poll workers from a pool of candidates submitted by the Democratic and Republican political parties.
"We are committed to better addressing our obligation to provide bilingual assistance to language minority voters and acknowledge that there is room for improvement," Piluka stated in an Aug. 1 letter he sent to John Tanner, chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
"To that end, an outreach process has been initiated to seek additional bilingual poll workers," Piluka wrote.
But the Springfield city solicitor told The Republican the city was given very little time by the Justice Department to avoid a lawsuit.
Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. agency's Civil Rights Division, said yesterday it is possible that the two agencies can come to an out-of-court agreement.
©2006 The Republican
Posted by lois at August 7, 2006 06:55 PM