ELC is representing Plaintiffs Citizens Project, Colorado Latinos Vote, the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region, and the Black/Latino Leadership Coalition in a lawsuit challenging the timing of off-cycle municipal elections in the City of Colorado Springs.  The City’s unusual practice of holding non-November elections disproportionately impacts Hispanic and Black residents and violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

BACKGROUND

When an election is held—no less than where or how an election is conducted—may result in unlawful racial discrimination in voting, as it does in Colorado Springs.  Colorado Springs holds elections in April of odd-numbered years, a practice that suppresses turnout, especially among nonwhite voters. The burden imposed by the City’s election timing is linked to social and historical conditions that have and currently engender discrimination against minority residents.  And all three branches of the federal government have recognized that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act reaches the time an election is held.  Colorado Springs is an outlier among Colorado municipalities in holding its municipal elections in April of odd-numbered years.

The City’s unusual election timing has a disparate impact on minority voters.  While turnout drops generally in non-November elections, the drop is especially stark for Hispanic and Black voters.  In the City’s April elections, non-white turnout is roughly half of white turnout.  By contrast, in November elections, non-white turnout is roughly 80% of white turnout, reflecting a meaningful but much improved difference.

The disproportionate negative impact of these unusually timed municipal elections extends beyond voter participation.  Hispanic and Black residents are also starkly underrepresented in the City’s government, and the City Council is consistently less responsive to their needs and interests.  Their concerns about police violence, public health, education, housing, and city funding decisions have often been ignored.

Citizens Project, Colorado Latinos Vote, the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region, and the Black/Latino Leadership Coalition all work to boost turnout in Colorado Springs, and the April elections deplete their resources and divert them from other activities. They seek to end the practice and prevent the City from holding future non-November elections.