Benton County to pay $75,000 to settle Latino voter discrimination suit

Benton County will pay to settle a Latino voter discrimination lawsuit.

The Benton County commissioners approved a settlement this week in a lawsuit related to the 2020 election, in which the county was accused of rejecting the signatures of Latino voters at a rate three times higher than other groups.

Benton County was sued in 2021, along with Yakima and Chelan counties, over what voting rights advocates alleged was a pattern of discrimination.

In the 2020 election Benton County Latino voter rejections were three times higher than white voters, while Chelan rejected ballots at 3.2 times higher and Yakima rejected Latino ballots at 3.9 times higher.

In June, a federal judge in Richland ordered the parties to begin discussing a settlement in order to avoid an October trial and potential federal intervention, according to court documents.

Then two weeks ago U.S. Judge Mary Dimke ruled against the counties in their request to dismiss the lawsuit. And on Tuesday, Benton County agreed to settle the case for $75,000.

It is unclear whether Yakima and Chelan counties have reached a settlement in the lawsuit yet.

Commissioner Jerome Delvin said during the meeting that he doesn’t believe the county did anything wrong, but it was in their best interest to settle the case.

Delvin, Auditor Brenda Chilton and former Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller were initially named in the lawsuit, as they made up the county’s Canvassing Review Board at that time. The board certifies election results.

The lawsuit was sparked by an instance in which Benton County voter Marissa Reyes was unable to get her signature issue resolved to have her vote counted. She was joined in the suit by the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Latino Community Fund.

In a recent court filing, Chilton said that all of her staff, including temporary employees, have gone through signature verification training. She and her longer-term staff have gone through it multiple times. She said they typically do a refresher at least every two years.

Signatures that election workers believe do not match are then “cured” which means a letter is sent giving the voter the opportunity to fix the problem.

Chilton also said in the filing that since the 2020 election the Washington Secretary of State’s Office has created a Spanish language signature verification handout, and that under state law, signatures are reviewed by a supervisor before a letter is sent to the voter within 24 to 48 hours. They also try to contact the voter by phone if a phone number was included in their registration.

Chilton, and the other county officials, were named only in their official capacity as members of their canvassing boards.

Latino voter discrimination

A review of the 2020 election by the state auditor’s office showed that statewide, non-white voters saw their ballots rejected at twice the rate of white voters. The biggest variable in rejection rates was the county in which the vote was cast.

The audit specifically reviewed signature mismatch, but found no evidence of bias by county election staffers in the samples inspected.

For the Aug. 1, 2023 primary election, Benton County rejected 1.49% of all ballots cast, which is slightly lower than the statewide average of 1.54%

They challenged 0.89% in the 2022 general election. Demographic data for these elections was not available.

The settlement comes just after Washington state was ordered to redraw its 15th District legislative map earlier this month, after a federal judge found that it dilutes the votes of the Hispanic population.

The 15th District encompasses portions of Pasco, Yakima, Sunnyside, Othello and several other smaller communities. A portion of it is in Benton County, but that section is largely occupied by the Hanford nuclear site.

That district is currently represented by Republican Nikki Torres in the Senate and Bruce Chandler and Bryan Sandlin, also Republicans, in the state House.

The state has until the 2024 legislative session to redraw the map, which likely means a special session will have to be called to reconvene the redistricting commission, according an analysis in the Seattle Times.

The federal judge intends for the new map to be in place before 2024 elections, promising to intervene if necessary.

Although Franklin County was not named in the lawsuit settled this week, it was ordered by the state Supreme Court in June to make changes to its county elections, after the court found its precinct maps discriminated against Latinos by diluting their votes.

Lawsuit signature arguments

The counties that were sued in federal court argued in their request that the lawsuit be dismissed that more than 98% of voters, both Latino and non-Latino, submitted matching ballot signatures.

The main determining factor in signature mismatches is the experience and age of the voter, according to the counties’ arguments in court documents.

New voters were 10 times more likely to be flagged for a signature mismatch than experienced voters. The signature of a 20-year-old voter was nearly eight times more likely to be determined non-matching than the signature of a 60 year old.

The requirement that a signature match one on record is easy to meet and easy to remedy if a ballot is initially challenged, according to the counties’ statements in court documents.

Signatures are reviewed promptly by staff members trained to make signature determinations, with Latino staff part of the review process, according to court documents.

Letters are sent in Benton County in English and Spanish to tell the voter how to fix the issue.

At least one phone call is made as a followup as a reminder, if needed, and bilingual staff are available to help voters who call or visit the election office, according to county officials.

Among voters who have had their ballots rejected for a signature mismatch was Commissioner Jerome Delvin, who spent five minutes filling out and returning a form to update his signature, according to court documents.

“A Washington voter today may vote by mail as a matter of course,” the counties said in a court document. “The price of doing this, rather than visiting a county voting center to show identification in exchange for a ballot, is a little security. The voter must sign a ballot declaration with a signature matching any signature in the voter registration file.”

The voter advocates countered that the law does not require minority voters to accept disenfranchisement because only small numbers of them are denied the right to vote.

It quoted a League of Women Voters lawsuit in North Carolina that “even one disenfranchised voter ... is too many.”

On Tuesday, Dimke updated the schedule for the case, setting a trial date for Feb. 5 in the Richland federal courthouse, if the rest of the lawsuit proceeds.