An historic verdict, an historic election: Yakima picks its first Latino council members

A U.S. District Judge ruled last year that Yakima “suffocates” its Latino voters with at-large election of city council members, and ordered the Central Washington city to switch to a district election system. The results are in, and for the first time in its history Yakima has not only one but two Latino city council members.  A third Latino candidate leads her opponent by 108 votes. Yakima has spent in the seven figures on legal fees, and is still appealing to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  It has been ordered to pay $1.8 million in legal fees to the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which brought the