THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
PASSAIC CITY, NEW JERSEY, et al.
and
CIVIL ACTION No._99-2544____
PASSAIC COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, et al.,
Judge _NHP__
Defendants.
CIVIL ACTION No.____________
Judge ___________
Judge ___________
Judge ___________
CONSENT DECREE
This Consent Decree represents the commitment of
the parties to ensure that all citizens of Passaic County have an equal opportunity
to participate in the electoral process including Hispanic and Spanish language citizens.
The County and City intend to fully implement this Order and Judgment, including the
Program for Spanish language election information described below, as part of
their ongoing efforts to ensure all voters regardless of race or ethnic origin
equal access to the polls. The parties recognize and agree that regular and
ongoing reassessment of the Spanish language election information program by
responsible officials will be necessary in order to provide Hispanic and Spanish
language citizens with access to all phases of the political process in Passaic
County and Passaic City.
The United States initiated this action pursuant
to Sections 2, 3(a), 11(a), 12(d), 203, 204, and 208 of the Voting Rights Act of
1965, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 1973, 42 U.S.C. 1973a(a), 42 U.S.C.1973i(a), 42 U.S.C.
1973j(d), 42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a, 42 U.S.C. 1973aa-2, 42 U.S.C. 1973aa-6, 28 U.S.C.
2201, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
In its Complaint, the United States alleges
five independent claims arising from Passaic City's and Passaic County's election
practices and procedures as they affect Hispanic citizens of the City and County,
including those Hispanic voting age citizens who are "unable to speak or understand
English adequately enough to participate in the election process," 42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a
(hereafter "limited English proficient" or "Spanish language minorities").
The claim under Section 203 of the Voting
Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a, must be heard and determined by a court of
three judges in accordance with the provisions of 42 U.S.C. section 1973aa-2
and 28 U.S.C. section 2284.
The United States alleges that various election
standards, practices and procedures in Passaic County and Passaic City deny or
abridge the voting rights of Hispanic and limited English proficient citizens.
The challenged practices concern the lack of effective bilingual election
procedures, as required by the Voting Rights Act, in the following areas: board
worker appointment, training and assignment policies and practices; bilingual
printing and dissemination of election information; and language assistance at
the polls including full translation of election related and voting connected materials.
The defendants do not admit the allegations
of the Complaint. Defendants, however, do share with the plaintiff a mutual
interest to implement procedures that will protect the rights of Hispanic and
Spanish-speaking voters to fully participate in the electoral process in
compliance with the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution, and therefore,
defendants agree to fully implement the terms of this Consent Decree for the
enforcement of all applicable laws.
In this regard, the parties stipulate that
Passaic County and Passaic City are subject to the requirements of Section 203
of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §1973 aa-1a, see 57 Fed. Reg. 43213
(Sept. 18, 1992), and thus the defendants must furnish written and oral
instructions, assistance and all information relating to voter registration
and voting in the Spanish language for the benefit of the Hispanic and
limited-English proficient voters.
The parties have conferred in good faith and
now agree that all claims in the Complaint can be resolved without further
judicial proceedings. Accordingly, the parties agree that entry of this Consent
Decree is an appropriate resolution of all claims in the Complaint.
Nothing in this Decree shall be construed
to prevent the United States from bringing a separate action alleging that
the voting strength of Passaic's Hispanic citizens is diluted in violation
of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and using any facts supporting the
relief ordered herein as evidence in such action.
The parties agree that a single member
District Court has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter
of this litigation as alleged in the Complaint and resolved herein, as to
all issues other than those raised under Section 203 of the Voting Rights
Act, 42 U.S.C. section 1973aa-1a. The parties further agree that a three
judge district court has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter
of the claims under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act that are alleged
in the Complaint and resolved herein. This Consent Decree is final and
binding as to all issues raised in or by the Complaint on the parties and
their officials, agents, employees, and successors, and all individuals in
active concert or participation with them.
Accordingly, the parties AGREE that
the following relief should be granted:
A. RECRUITMENT OF HISPANIC
AND BILINGUAL DISTRICT BOARD
WORKERS
1. The Defendants agree on behalf
of themselves and their officers, agents, successors and all persons acting
in concert with them in the performance of their official functions, that
they will take immediate steps to exhaust all reasonable efforts to increase
the number of Hispanic persons and bilingual persons appointed and assigned
as district board members for the June 8, 1999 primary elections. If the
County is unable to obtain at least two bilingual district board members
for each designated Spanish Election District, the County shall endeavor
to obtain bilingual translators, without regard to whether they are resident
registered voters or otherwise qualified to be district board workers.
2. Defendants shall contact
Hispanic candidates, Hispanic elected officials, Hispanic organizations
(including but not limited to those set forth on Exhibit A) by written
communication, and by telephonic communication or through direct oral
communication at a public meeting as necessary, in connection with the
appointment of district board members for each election, in an effort to obtain
the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of Hispanic citizens who are
qualified and available to serve as district board members.
3. At all elections conducted
by Passaic County or Passaic City beginning with the 1999 primary election,
Defendants shall make their best efforts to appoint Hispanic district board
members to work on election day in proportions that reasonably correspond
to the percentage of Hispanic registered voters in the election district
to which they are assigned. Nothing in N.J.S.A. 19:6-3 shall be construed
to relieve the defendants of this obligation.
4. At all elections conducted
by Passaic County or Passaic City beginning with the 1999 primary election,
the County Board of Elections shall in an effort to recruit Hispanic and
bilingual district board workers:
(a) place an advertisement in English and Spanish in the Sunday
edition of the Herald and in Spanish in the El Diario for each week, beginning
4 weeks prior to the final selection of district board members, except that
for the June 1999 primary only, such advertisements may be placed once per
week in a weekday or Sunday edition for the 2 weeks prior to the
election;
(b) have two drive-time Spanish language 30-second public service
announcements on radio WADO, AM, and station 97.9 FM, for each day beginning
ten (10) days prior to the final selection of district board members for each
election; and
(c) have three Spanish language public service announcements per
week for the two weeks prior to the selection of district board members on TV
41 or 47; provided, however, that the Spanish election information program,
described in Section E below, will supersede this provision once it has been
agreed by the parties and filed with the Court.
B. BILINGUAL ELECTION-RELATED MATERIALS AND NOTICES
5. Beginning with the June 1999
primary election, defendants shall ensure that all written information that
is made available to the public, including information which is provided at
the polls regarding any aspect of candidate qualification, voter registration,
and the absentee or in-person voting process shall also be made available in
Spanish. Defendants shall ensure to the extent that it is technically feasible
that the ballot on the voting machines in English shall also appear on the voting
machines in Spanish at each designated Spanish Election District for each election.
6. Beginning immediately, election-related
advertisements and announcements shall be bilingual and include information as
to the availability of Spanish language materials and Spanish language assistance
for the entire electoral process, from registration through voting.
7. Beginning with the June 1999
election, poster size bilingual signs shall be prominently posted in each
polling place for the Spanish election districts notifying voters that Spanish
language assistance is available and setting forth the telephone number of
the emergency telephone lines described in paragraph 11, below. All other signs
in each polling place in the Spanish election districts and election office in
Passaic County shall also be bilingual.
C. VOTER ASSISTANCE
8. Beginning with the June
3, 1999 training session, the County Board of Elections shall instruct
district board workers on the rights of blind or physically disabled voters
and voters who are not able to read and write to have assistance in the
voting booth by a person of their choice. Board workers will also be
expressly instructed that Spanish language minority voters have a right
to equal participation in the electoral process, including assistance in the
voting booth in the Spanish language when appropriate. These instructions shall
include discussion of the proper interpretation of relevant New Jersey election
laws, as set forth in paragraph 9. Beginning with the June 1999 election, all
district board workers shall be required to sign the Board Member Rules of Voter
Etiquette and Procedure, attached as Exhibit B, prominently placed as part
of the pay slip. These Rules shall be included in the Board Worker Instruction
Booklet for all training sessions after June 1999.
9. Beginning with the June 1999
primary election, assistance shall be provided in accordance with the broad
provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and in particular Sections 203 and 208,
to ensure that all entitled voters needing assistance have the opportunity
to fully and effectively implement their voting choices. N.J.S.A. 19:52-3
shall not be construed to limit the time in which a voter who requires
assistance may reasonably remain with his assistor in the voting machine
booth. Additionally, neither N.J.S.A. 19:15-8 nor N.J.S.A. 19:52-3 shall
be construed to limit a voter in the choice of his assistor or to prevent
an assistor from assisting more than one voter.
10. Defendant Superintendent
of Elections shall make available a voting machine at the municipal buildings
in the City of Paterson and the City of Passaic to allow for public demonstrations
in a timely manner prior to any election.
11. Beginning with the June 1999
election, the Superintendent of Elections shall maintain dedicated emergency
telephone lines for use on election day which shall be answered in the Spanish
language by a trained bilingual employee, and shall provide adequate bilingual
staffing on these phones office throughout the day. Signs shall be posted in
Spanish in each polling place advertising the availability of telephone
assistance. Calls to the emergency telephone lines shall be logged, including
the name and phone number of the caller, the language spoken by the caller,
the nature of the request or complaint, and how the matter was resolved.
The County and the City shall use their best
efforts to ensure that a working telephone line (whether land-based or cellular)
is either available for voter use in the election district or that a working
public telephone is available within 100 yards of the election district.
D. PUBLICATION OF SPANISH LANGUAGE MATERIALS
12. For the June 1999 primary
election, Defendants shall publicize to all citizens the availability of
Spanish language materials and Spanish language assistance for purposes of
casting a ballot in a voting booth or applying for and casting an absentee ballot.
13. Defendants shall publicize
to all citizens the availability of assistance in voting for voters who require
assistance because of blindness, disability or inability to read or write.
14. Defendants shall place bilingual
announcements in the media describing the existence of the materials and
assistance set forth in Sections B, C, and D of this Consent Decree.
E. ESTABLISHMENT OF A PERMANENT SPANISH LANGUAGE ELECTION
INFORMATION
PROGRAM.
15. By September 15, 1999, the
Defendants shall review and update the designation of Spanish Election Districts
in Passaic County using the most current available data so that all election
districts in which the primary language of 10% or more of the registered voters
is Spanish are designated. The parties agree that a district shall be designated
if a Spanish surname analysis of the current list of registered voters indicates
that ten percent or more of the registered voters have Spanish surnames. The United
States agrees that a Spanish surname analysis is a reasonable means of "targeting"
minority language assistance within the meaning of 28 CFR Ch. 1, § 55.17.
16. At all elections conducted
by Passaic County or Passaic City beginning with the 1999 general election,
all reasonable efforts shall be exhausted to ensure that Spanish Election
Districts shall be staffed with sufficient bilingual board workers to
adequately meet the needs of the Spanish language minority voters in such
districts; the staffing for such election districts should have at least
the two additional district board members required by N.J.S.A. 19:6-1, who
are of Hispanic origin and fluent in Spanish. Nothing in that statute or
in N.J.S.A. 19:6-3 shall be construed to relieve the County or City of their
obligation to have a sufficient number of bilingual district board members.
17. If, for any election, the
County or City is unable to obtain sufficient bilingual district board members
to satisfy its obligations under this Consent Decree, the County or City shall
meet these obligations by obtaining bilingual translators, without regard to
whether those translators are County residents or registered voters, certifying
the expense of obtaining translators as an election expense.
18. Passaic County shall, together
with Passaic City, implement and enforce a Spanish Language election information
program (the "Program"). The purpose of the Program shall be to ensure the
dissemination of election-related and voting connected information to the
Spanish-speaking citizens of Passaic County, and to make the election process
equally available to Hispanic citizens, particularly those with limited English
proficiency. The Program shall include provisions for the employment of Voting
Rights Coordinator(s); a system for community input into the election process;
recruitment, appointment and training of Hispanic and bilingual district board
members; training of election personnel; translations of election related and
voting connected materials; dissemination of translated materials; publication
regarding the availability of voting assistance, Spanish language materials,
and Spanish language voting assistance; election day procedures; and records
to be maintained. The Program shall be designed with input from the United
States, and defendants shall invite input from Hispanic community organizations
and shall include input that is received from such organizations in the Program.
The Program shall be designed to ensure that in each election district throughout
Passaic County, all citizens, including Hispanic persons, limited English
proficient persons and persons requiring voting assistance, have an equal
opportunity to participate in the electoral process. This Program shall be
broadly construed to improve the effective access of citizens to the electoral
process in Passaic County and Passaic City.
19. The parties agree that they
will work together in order to develop a Program that should be filed with
this Court by August 2, 1999, and that will be fully in effect by October 1,
1999, except that the Program may enumerate specific items that will instead
be implemented by January 1, 2000. Any subsequent modifications of the Program
must be agreed upon by the parties and approved by the United States and shall
be filed with this Court within 60 days of the effective date of the modification.
20. If the parties are unable to
agree to all the terms of a Program by August 2, 1999, then the parties agree
that they shall file by September 1, 1999, a Program which contains all term
that the parties can agree on and these terms shall be fully implemented by
October 1, 1999. In such event, each party shall file with the three-judge
Court empaneled for this case proposed terms for the remaining portions of
the Program by September 15, 1999. The Court shall, after such argument as
it deems necessary, order such terms as are necessary in order to ensure that
every aspect of the electoral process is equally open to language minority
citizens, that the Program complies with 28 CFR Ch 1 Part 55, Implementation
of the Provisions of the Voting Rights Act Regarding Language Minority Groups.
21. Once the Program is adopted,
Passaic County and City shall evaluate the Program on an ongoing basis
through meetings with the Voting Rights Coordinator(s) as well as with
Hispanic community organizations, other interested parties, and counsel
for the United States. After each election, the County and City shall
propose changes to the Program, if necessary, which, after inviting comments
from interested parties and agreed to by the United States shall be adopted.
22. The parties shall confer
in good faith if any party believes that a particular aspect of the Program
has proven ineffective. The parties shall confer at least annually in a good
faith effort to improve any aspect of the Program which has proven ineffective,
in accordance with this Consent Decree. In the event of changes in Spanish
language minority citizen population patterns in Passaic County and City,
the parties promptly shall confer and develop a program for meeting fully
the language needs of such population.
23. To ensure the effectiveness
of this agreement and to protect the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment
rights of the citizens of Passaic County, the appointment of a federal
examiner in Passaic County is authorized pursuant to Section 3(a) of the
Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973a(a), through December 31, 2003. Such
designation shall be extended to ensure full and ongoing protection of the
rights of the voters of Passaic County upon either agreement of the parties
or by court order. The parties agree that such Order shall issue if the court
determines either that Defendants are not in compliance with this agreement
or that there is evidence of the denial or abridgment of any rights of Hispanic
or Spanish-speaking voters under the Voting Rights Act or the Fourteenth or
Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
24. If the defendants do not
comply with this Consent Decree, the United States, upon reasonable notice
and an opportunity to cure, shall seek enforcement from this Court. For
purposes of such a proceeding, defendants shall not contest the validity
of this consent decree entered by this court.
25. Copies of all materials
or records referenced in this Consent Decree and the Program shall be
maintained by Passaic County for not less than five years, and shall be
made available to the public for inspection and copying on the same basis
as other records of Passaic County.
26. Within forty-five (45)
days after each election in Passaic County, the Board of Elections shall
serve a report on counsel for the United States. Such report shall include:
(A) A copy of
the official list of persons appointed to serve as district board members,
identified by name, address, telephone number, race/ethnicity, and bilingual status;
(B) A copy of
all documents required by the Program for Spanish language election information.
________/s/________________
WILLIAM PASCRELL, III
County Counsel
Admin. Building, Room 214
401 Grand Street
Paterson, NJ 07505
This Court finds that it has jurisdiction under
28 U.S.C. §1331 over all matters raised in the Complaint in this case except the
claims under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973aa-1a. Having
considered the Complaint and the stipulations set forth above, this Court ORDERS
the defendants to comply with the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution and Sections 2 and 208 of the Voting Rights Act, and the Court further
ORDERS the relief set forth in Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 above.
Entered and Ordered this __4th___ day of June, 1999.
This three-judge Court was properly empaneled under 28 U.S.C. § 2284 to
consider the claims raised by the Complaint in this case under Section 203 of
the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. section 1973aa et seq. This Court has
determined that it has jurisdiction over the claims raised under Section 203 of
the Voting Rights Act, and this Court ORDERS the defendants to comply with
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, and the Court further ORDERS the relief
set forth in Paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 24, 25, and 26 above.
Entered and Ordered this _____ day of June, 1999.
I, ______________, understand that my duties for the _________, ____ election
include, and are not limited to:
I agree to perform these duties to the best of my ability.
