Islip Latinos Call For Equal Voting Rights In Town Elections

TOWN OF ISLIP, NY - Several Latino residents in the Town of Islip gathered to call for voting rights during town elections at a press conference on Tuesday.

Recently, the residents filed a lawsuit claiming the voting system violates their rights to choose a candidate of their choice.

At the event, community members, attorneys as well as members of Make The Road New York and New York Communities for Change headed into district court in Central Islip for the start of hearings on their case, Flores v. Town of Islip.

According to the group, the upcoming election for Town Board members, which takes place under a single-member district system rather than the current at-large voting system, denies equal representation to Latino and minority communities and violates the Voting Rights Act.

According to FairVote.org, a single-member district system, the most commonly used for legislative elections in the United States, is when the candidate with the most votes in a geographic location is declared the winner.

However, the splitting of the geographical votes causes misrepresent parties, produce manufactured majorities, encourage gerrymandering, discourage voter turnout, create high levels of wasted votes, and deny fair representation to third parties, racial minorities and women, the website says.

In an at-large voting system, which is used most commonly in local elections, an entire town or city is considered to be one large district and all candidates for office run together against each other.

"I came to this country from El Salvador many years ago," Maria Magdalena Hernandez, a member of Make The Road New York, and an Islip Town resident, said. "When I came, one of the things that made me hopeful was the promise of democracy — the idea that the voice of any one person would count as much as the voice of any other person. Now, I’m a citizen and a proud Long Islander. But, the at-large Town Board system in Islip deprives me and my Latino neighbors of an equal voice in the Town where we live."

The residents have been able to elect Latino candidates at the county and state Legislature, but have not been able to do so at the Town level.

"For years, members of the Latino community have been denied fair representation in Islip," Hernandez said. "We are here today to make sure our voices are heard and that we have an equal say in the Town of Islip."