The American Civil Liberties Union and the Missouri NAACP are asking the judge in their ongoing voting rights case to consider changing Ferguson-Florissant School Board elections to a cumulative voting system.
Cumulative voting allows a voter to cast multiple votes for the same candidate. For instance, if three slots on the school board are open but a voter only likes one candidate, he or she can cast up to three votes for the same candidate.
“We believe that cumulative voting is the one that will really both be able to correct the discrimination there and be a very accessible, user-friendly (so to speak) system,” said Julie Ebenstein, an ACLU attorney representing the NAACP and its co-plaintiffs.
“It has a few benefits, like it can grow if the population does shift or change. It gives voters a little more flexibility to form coalitions, whether they prefer candidates by region or whatever other factor.”
In a brief filed late Wednesday, September 28, the ACLU and the NAACP also gave federal Judge Rodney Sippel two other options: one that divides the district into seven geographic areas with a board member representing each area, and another with two at-large members and five members representing different geographic areas.
“We were able to make clear in the brief that we think cumulative would be a good solution, but at the end of the day it’s really up to the court to decide,” Ebenstein said.
The Ferguson-Florissant School District has until October 14 to file its proposed voting plan. The judge will then decide which plan to put in place.
Elections are currently on hold while Judge Sippel decides what voting method should be in place. He ruled in August that the current at-large voting system dilutes the strength of black voters. Ebenstein said the judge wants everything to be decided in time for candidate filing in December.
The ACLU and NAACP recently held a town hall meeting on September 22 at Wellspring Church in Ferguson to share the options they were considering and to get community feedback. About 30 people attended the town hall, including at least one former school board member.
Wellspring’s pastor, the Rev. Willis Johnson, is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. He said they wanted “people encouraged and empowered, feeling like they have ownership, which is not something that people have felt in this community around their educational process.”
Follow Camille on Twitter: @cmpcamille.
Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.
