A suburban Dallas city council has approved a single-member replacement for a municipal voting system struck down by the federal courts.
The Farmers Branch City Council voted 3-1 to approve the plan and submit it to U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater. The Dallas judge had ruled the city's existing plan of citywide elections for each council member violated the 1965 U.S. Voting Rights Act.
The plan approved by the council Tuesday night would carve the city into five districts, each electing one council member. In a memo to the council, City Manager Gary Greer says one proposed district would have a 75 percent Hispanic electorate, while the other districts would have non-Hispanic majorities.
Farmers Branch has repeatedly made national headlines for trying to ban illegal immigrants from renting housing.
