Dallas Morning News: Closing Arguments Heard in Irving Voting Rights Trial

February 21, 2009 – The Dallas Morning News reports that closing arguments were held in a trial over whether the Irving City Council’s at-large voting system suppressed the votes of Hispanics and violated the Voting Rights Act. 

U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis said he hoped to decide within a month whether to require the council to create single-member districts. 

Brewer Storefront represented plaintiff Manuel Benavidez, who filed the federal lawsuit claiming that the city’s at-large voting system blocked the votes of Hispanics.  

David Ely, an expert for Benavidez, testified that he found several possible districts where eligible voters were mainly Hispanic.  

Dallas Morning News: Trial Over Voting Sees First Battle

February 18, 2009 – The Dallas Morning News reports that a federal court challenge to the City of Irving’s at-large City Council elections opened with disagreements over data interpretation.  

Brewer Storefront represented plaintiff Manuel Benavidez in a voting rights lawsuit against the city, arguing that its at-large voting method effectively denies representation to Hispanics.  

Expert David Ely testified that socioeconomic and educational disparities between Irving’s Hispanic and white populations made successful city council campaigns difficult for Hispanics.  

“It’s more difficult for candidates from this community to obtain the vote,” Ely said. He said he used 2000 U.S. Census data, 2006 Census estimates and his own projects to develop possible Hispanic voter majority districts.  

Dallas Morning News: Voting Rights Trial Set to Begin Today

February 17, 2009 – The Dallas Morning News reports that a trial was set to open in federal court in which plaintiff Manuel Benavidez sued the City of Irving, alleging that its at-large voting method for City Council elections effectively denies representation to Hispanics.  

Bill Brewer, who represented Benavidez, called the city’s defense claims “silly” and pointed out that they were ignoring data, including expert reports identifying ways to draw majority-Hispanic single-member districts. 

“Notice Irving doesn’t defend its case by pretending that the system is fair or it’s time for a change hasn’t come,” Brewer said.  

The article noted that Irving’s mayor and eight council members were white, even though white residents only comprised about 35.6 percent of the city’s population, while Hispanic made up about 40.6 percent of the population.  

Dallas Morning News: Studies – Hispanic Candidates Blocked

July 11, 2008 – The Dallas Morning News reports that new studies released as part of a federal voting rights lawsuit brought against the City of Irving found that the city’s at-large voting system allowed white voters to block the election of Hispanic-favored candidates. 

“It is clear that whites vote as a bloc, and given they vote as a bloc, it effectively negates any chance a Hispanic has at being elected,” said attorney Bill Brewer, who represented plaintiff Manuel Benavidez in the lawsuit.  

The Brewer firm commissioned the studies on Irving City Council elections in 2002, 2005 and 2008. The article noted that they were conducted by an expert on election systems and minority voters and the founder of a database management firm specializing in Census data.  

The lawsuit requested that a U.S. district court declare that Irving’s at-large method violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and asked the city to develop a new system of electing council members.  

Dallas Morning News: Suit Calls Irving’s At-Large System Unfair to Hispanics

November 7, 2007 – The Dallas Morning News reports that a federal voting rights lawsuit filed against the city of Irving, Texas, and its nine city council members alleged that the at-large voting system effectively denied representation to Hispanics.  

The lawsuit requested that the court declare that the at-large election system violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and requested the development of a new system of electing the city council. The article referred to discussions about creating single-member districts. 

Attorney Bill Brewer of Brewer Storefront represented plaintiff Manuel Benavidez, who twice ran unsuccessfully for the Irving City Council. Brewer said the city was the best place to “start the debate.”  

“This is the body that is most directly involved in municipal affairs across the board,” Brewer said.  

He added that Hispanics should determine at least some council seats in a city where more than one-third of the population is Hispanic.  

"You would have an enriched community if you had different points of view at the table debating matters of municipal policy and municipal affairs,” Brewer said.