YAKIMA — The Yakima City Council is expected to end its appeal of the American Civil Liberties Union voting rights lawsuit that changed city elections last year.
The city council has scheduled an April 5 vote in which it is expected to rescind the appeal.
The ACLU sued the city in 2012, arguing that Yakima’s system of at-large and geographically defined districts was unconstitutional because it suppressed the interests of the city’s Latinos.
In 2014, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice agreed and ordered the city to adopt a district-based council system.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the first elections under the new system were held in November, and voters elected the first three Latino council members in Yakima’s history.
The city has already spent more than $1.1 million fighting the case.
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