Latinx residents on Long Island praised this week a settlement in a federal lawsuit that overturned the town of Islip’s voting system that they say discriminated against them.
The town of Islip will abandon at-large voting and instead create council districts.
This is to settle a federal Voting Rights Acts lawsuit that claimed Latinos were disenfranchised by Islip’s current at-large voting system where the entire town votes to seat all town board members. Such systems are often criticized for marginalizing minority populations.
Roughly a third of Islip is Latino. Only one person of color has ever been elected in Islip. Five other towns in Suffolk still vote at-large.
