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.