Matt Barreto, a UCLA professor of political science and Chicana/o studies, said that’s because none of the proposals would create a legislative district in the Yakima Valley where the majority of eligible voters are Latino.
Barreto, faculty director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project and an expert on Latino voting patterns, said that’s a problem because the Yakima Valley has both a large Latino population and a well documented history of racially polarized voting, in which Latino voters consistently choose different candidates than white voters. Barreto reviewed the proposed redistricting maps in an analysis commissioned by state Senate Democrats.
“I think the safest thing to assume is you have a
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