IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
CHANMONY HUOT, VLADIMIR SALDAÑA, CHAMPA PANG, LIANNA
KUSHI, THOEUN KONG, DENISSE COLLAZO, SUE J. KIM, SOADY OUCH, TOOCH VAN, CARMEN BERMUDEZ, KEI KAWASHIMA-GINSBERG,
DANIEL K. UK, and FAHMINA ZAMAN, Plaintiffs,
v.
CITY OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS; KEVIN J. MURPHY, in his official
capacity as Lowell City Manager; LOWELL CITY COUNCIL; RITA M. MERCIER, RODNEY M. ELLIOTT, EDWARD J. KENNEDY, JR., JOHN J. LEAHY, WILLIAM SAMARAS, JAMES L. MILINAZZO, DANIEL P. ROURKE,
COREY A. BELANGER, JAMES D. LEARY, in their official capacities as members of the Lowell City Council; LOWELL SCHOOL COMMITTEE; STEPHEN J. GENDRON, JACQUELINE DOHERTY, CONNIE A. MARTIN, ROBERT J. HOEY, JR., ROBERT JAMES GIGNAC, ANDRE DESCOTEAUX, in their official capacities as members of the Lowell School Committee; LOWELL ELECTION AND CENSUS COMMISSION; and BEVERLY ANTHES, JOSEPH MULLEN, THEL SAR, THOMAS FR. O’BRIEN, in their official capacities as members of the Lowell Election and Census Commission, Defendants.
Case No. _________________
COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTIVE AND
DECLARATORY RELIEF
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
INTRODUCTION
1. The right to vote—and the principle that everyone’s vote should count equally—
is at the very core of our democracy. Plaintiffs are members of the City of Lowell’s large and growing minority community who bring this lawsuit to enforce the federal laws that protect this fundamental right. Specifically, Plaintiffs challenge Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal electoral system, which unlawfully and unconstitutionally dilutes the vote of minorities in Lowell and deprives them of an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee.
2. The numbers are stark. Lowell today is on the cusp of being a majority-minority
city, with minorities constituting more than 49% of Lowell’s total population. Lowell’s Asian- American and Hispanic/Latino communities by themselves constitute nearly 40% of the city’s total population. Yet the nine-member Lowell City Council is currently all-white, and has been so for virtually all of Lowell’s history. The six-member Lowell School Committee is similarly all-white, and, to Plaintiffs’ knowledge, has never had a single minority representative.
3. The lack of diversity of the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee is a direct result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal electoral system. In an at-large plurality winner-take-all system such as Lowell’s, 51% of the electorate can control all the seats and win every election. That is precisely what is occurring in Lowell. Voting patterns show demonstrable racial polarization, with a predominantly white majority that generally votes as a bloc, effectively diluting and canceling out the votes of Asian-Americans and Hispanics/Latinos.
This is directly counter to the fundamental principle of equal voting opportunity, and in violation of federal law.
4. The lack of diversity on Lowell’s elected bodies has had, and continues to have, a detrimental impact on the minority communities whose votes are diluted. Lowell’s minority communities struggle to get the Lowell City Council and the Lowell School Committee to take actions on matters that are important to those communities. Outreach to communities of color, including translation services, is lacking at all levels of government. City services and amenities are unequally distributed. Minorities are significantly under-represented in city jobs—including in the Lowell Police Department and in the Lowell Public Schools—and minority students face achievement gaps and disparities in school discipline. Lowell’s elected officials are unaccountable to Lowell’s minority communities under the city’s at-large plurality election system, however, providing little motivation for them to be responsive to minority communities’ needs or concerns.
5. Lowell’s elected officials—and predominantly white majority voters in the city— have resisted recent efforts to change Lowell’s outdated election system. Lowell remains the last holdout among large Massachusetts cities in clinging to an exclusively at-large plurality municipal electoral system—a system that was implemented in Lowell in the 1950s with the declared intent of limiting minority participation in the political process. Judicial intervention is therefore necessary to protect the rights of the large and growing number of minority residents of Lowell whose votes are unlawfully diluted by Lowell’s at-large electoral system.
6. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief under Section 2 of the Voting
Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. § 10301 (“Section 2”), as well as under the Fourteenth Amendment to theUnited States Constitution and the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Through Lowell’s unlawful electoral system, Asian-Americans and Hispanics /Latinos in the City of Lowell have been denied an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee.
7. The use of an exclusively at-large plurality voting system for all nine seats on the Lowell City Council and all six seats on the Lowell School Committee dilutes the combined electoral strength of Asian-Americans and Hispanics/Latinos in the City of Lowell. It results in the election of predominantly white candidates from neighborhoods with the largest percentage of white voters, depriving Plaintiffs of equal voting power and preventing them from electing candidates of their choice in violation of Section 2.
8. Under a reasonable and properly-apportioned single-member districting plan, at least one single-member district in Lowell can be created for both the Lowell City Council and the Lowell School Committee in which Asian-Americans and Hispanics/Latinos combined would comprise a majority of the citizen voting age population, voting age population, and total population.
9. Under the totality of the circumstances, including the historical, socio-economic, and other conditions that prevail in Lowell, the at-large plurality election system used to elect the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee violates Section 2 of the Voting Right Act, 52 U.S.C. § 10301, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
10. For these reasons, and as further alleged in detail below, Plaintiffs seek, among other things, declaratory judgment and injunctive relief prohibiting the further utilization of an entirely at-large plurality system for electing members of the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
11. This Court has jurisdiction of this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343(a), because this action seeks to redress the deprivation, under color of state law, of rights, privileges and immunities secured by the Voting Rights Act; and 28 U.S.C. § 1331, because this action arises under the laws of the United States.
12. This Court has jurisdiction to grant both declaratory and injunctive relief, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202.
13. This Court has personal jurisdiction over the Defendants, all of whom reside in this district.
14. Venue is proper in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claims herein occurred in this district and because the Defendants reside in this district.
PARTIES
Plaintiffs
15. CHANMONY HUOT is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Mr. Huot is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of his choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Mr. Huot resides in the Highlands neighborhood of Lowell.
16. VLADIMIR SALDAÑA is a Hispanic/Latino Lowell resident and registered
voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Mr. Saldaña is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of his choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Mr. Saldaña resides in the Sacred Heart neighborhood of Lowell.
17. CHAMPA PANG is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Ms. Pang is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Pang resides in the Acre neighborhood of Lowell.
18. LIANNA KUSHI is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Ms. Kushi is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Kushi resides in the Highlands neighborhood of Lowell.
19. THOEUN KONG is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Mr. Kong is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of his choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Mr. Kong resides in the Highlands neighborhood of Lowell.
20. DENISSE COLLAZO is a Hispanic/Latino Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Ms. Collazo is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Collazo resides in the Acre neighborhood of Lowell.
21. SUE J. KIM is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Ms. Kim is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Kim resides in the Acre/Downtown neighborhood of Lowell.
22. SOADY OUCH is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As aresult of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Ms. Ouch is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Ouch resides in the Lower Highlands neighborhood of Lowell.
23. TOOCH VAN is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Mr. Van is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of his choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Mr. Van resides in the Sacred Heart neighborhood of Lowell
24. CARMEN BERMUDEZ is a Hispanic/Latino Lowell resident and registered
voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Ms. Bermudez is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Bermudez resides in the Acre neighborhood of Lowell.
25. KEI KAWASHIMA-GINSBERG is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system,
Ms. Kawashima-Ginsberg is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Kawashima-Ginsberg resides in the Highlands neighborhood of Lowell.
26. DANIEL K. UK is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter. As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Mr. Uk is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of his choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Mr. Uk resides in the Centerville neighborhood of Lowell.
27. FAHMINA ZAMAN is an Asian-American Lowell resident and registered voter.
As a result of Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal election system, Ms. Zaman is denied the equal opportunity to elect candidates of her choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Ms. Zaman resides in the Highlands neighborhood of Lowell.
Defendants
28. Defendant CITY OF LOWELL is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts organized under Massachusetts’ Plan E form of government pursuant to Mass. G. L. c. 43, §§ 93- 116.
29. Defendant KEVIN J. MURPHY is the appointed City Manager of the City of Lowell. Mr. Murphy is sued in his official capacity.
30. Defendant LOWELL CITY COUNCIL is a legislative body and the governing authority of the City of Lowell, Massachusetts. The Lowell City Council is established pursuant to Mass. G. L. c. 43, §§ 95-99 under the Plan E form of government and exercises general and specific legislative powers. Among its duties, the Lowell City Council votes on bond issues, proposed city budgets, financial appropriations, land acquisitions and sales, loans, traffic control issues, and zoning changes. Lowell City Council members are elected biennially by city-wide at-large plurality elections held in odd numbered years. See 1957 Mass. Act. 725 § 2. The Lowell City Council has the power to implement changes to the city’s Plan E form of government and to adopt districting plans that comply with the Voting Rights Act and United States Constitution.
31. Defendants RITA M. MERCIER, RODNEY M. ELLIOTT, EDWARD J. KENNEDY, JR., JOHN J. LEAHY, WILLIAM SAMARAS, JAMES L. MILINAZZO, DANIEL P. ROURKE, COREY A. BELANGER, and JAMES D. LEARY are members of the Lowell City Council. Each of these Defendants is sued in his or her official capacity.
32. Defendant LOWELL SCHOOL COMMITTEE is responsible for the conduct of the public schools for the City of Lowell. See Mass. G. L. c. 43, § 95. The Lowell School Committee members are elected biennially by city-wide at-large plurality elections held in odd numbered years.
33. Defendants STEPHEN J. GENDRON, JACQUELINE DOHERTY, CONNIE A. MARTIN, ROBERT J. HOEY, JR., ROBERT JAMES GIGNAC, and ANDRE DESCOTEAUX, are members of the Lowell School Committee. Each of these Defendants is sued in his or her official capacity.
34. Defendant LOWELL ELECTION AND CENSUS COMMISSION is responsible for managing and conducting all municipal, state, and federal elections within the City of Lowell.
35. Defendants BEVERLY ANTHES, JOSEPH MULLEN, THEL SAR, and THOMAS FR. O’BRIEN, are members of the Lowell Election and Census Commission. Each of these Defendants is sued in his or her official capacity.BACKGROUND Lowell’s Municipal Election System
36. By charter, Lowell follows Massachusetts’ Plan E form of government under
Mass. G. L. c. 43, §§ 93–116.
37. There are nine members of the Lowell City Council, and six members of the
Lowell School Committee. The Mayor of Lowell, who is elected by and from the City Council members, also sits on the School Committee.
38. Lowell residents elect all nine members of the Lowell City Council and all six members of the Lowell School Committee at the same time in biennial elections held in oddnumbered years. Each seat is for a two year term.
39. All Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee candidates are elected atlarge,city-wide, in a plurality voting system. See 1957 Mass. Act. 725 § 2. At the polls, Lowell voters are presented with a list of candidates for both City Council and School Committee, and may vote for up to nine total City Council candidates and six total School Committee candidates.
The top nine and top six vote-getting candidates are elected to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee, respectively.
40. Even though the city is currently divided into eleven separate wards, with each ward encompassing three precincts, the city votes as a whole in this at-large, plurality winnertake-all election system, and thus only the top vote-getting candidates across all wards and precincts win seats on the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. Because the city effectively votes as a single entity, a majority bloc of voters can elect all of their preferred candidates to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee. This election system dilutes the voting power of Lowell’s Hispanic/Latino and Asian-American communities.
Lowell Demographics
41. Lowell has historically been a city of immigrants, and accordingly has undergone major demographic changes throughout its history. In the last 50 years, Lowell has seen significant growth in its non-white minority populations, particularly its Asian-American and Hispanic/Latino populations.
42. Hispanic/Latino immigrants began moving to Lowell in significant numbers in the 1960s—a trend which continued into the 1980s and beyond. Colombians in particular, like many other minorities throughout the city’s history, were drawn to work in Lowell’s mills. The city currently has large Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, and Colombian populations.1
43. Asian immigrants began moving to Lowell in large numbers in the 1980s. In
particular, many immigrants and refugees from Cambodia began arriving in the United States during this time frame and settled in Lowell. Vietnamese and Laotian immigrants moved to Lowell in significant numbers in the same period. Southeast Asians also comprise a significant portion of Lowell’s Asian-American population.2
44. More recently, increasing numbers African immigrants are moving to the city, coming from countries ranging from Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, to Togo.3
45. Today, minorities constitute over 49% of Lowell’s total population, and Hispanics/Latinos and Asian-Americans combined comprise approximately 40% of the total population.
46. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011-2015 American Community Survey (the “2015 ACS”), which was published on February 1, 2017, and which contains the most recent demographic estimates available for the City of Lowell: (a) non-Latino whites constitute approximately 50.7% of Lowell’s total population, 55.7% of its voting age population, and 61.0% of its citizen voting age population; (b) Asians constitute approximately 21.8% of Lowell’s total population, 21.0% of its voting age population, and 17.0% of its citizen voting age population; (c) Hispanics/Latinos constitute approximately 18.1% of Lowell’s total population, 15.4% of its voting age population, and 15.5% of its citizen voting age population; and (d) blacks/African Americans constitute approximately 7.1% of Lowell’s total population, 6.7% of its voting age population, and 5.3% of its citizen voting age population. The 2015 ACS data for the City of Lowell is summarized in Table 1 below. Similar demographic data from the 2010 Census, the most recent official decennial census, is summarized in Table 2 below.
Table 1 – Lowell Demographics (U.S. Census 2011-2015 American Community Survey)4 Please Read next Issue
