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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES MORGAN CITY, LOUISIANA

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A southern Louisiana city was sued today because its method of electing its governing body does not provide an equal opportunity for black citizens to participate in the electoral process, the Justice Department announced.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Lafayette, Louisiana, alleges that the at-large method used to elect the City Council of Morgan City, Louisiana, violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it dilutes the voting strength of minorities. Today's lawsuit is the result of an extensive investigation conducted by the Civil Rights Division into the city's electoral practices and history.

"The Voting Rights Act guarantees that all citizens have the right to fully participate in the democratic process," said Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "We hope today's lawsuit will help bring down the barriers preventing Morgan City's black citizens from having an equal opportunity to elect a representative to the City Council."

Although black citizens make up more than 20% of the total population of Morgan City, black voters have never been successful in electing a candidate of their choice to the five-member City Council. Under the current system, each of the council members is elected at-large on a city-wide basis. The Justice Department's analysis of previous city elections found that although black voters are politically cohesive, white voters, who form a large majority of the county's electorate, usually vote as a bloc to defeat the black community's candidate of choice. This bloc voting, in combination with the use of an at-large election system, results in a dilution of the voting strength of the black community in Morgan City in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, Bill Flanagan, said, "The present at-large method of electing the Morgan City Council has diluted minority voting strength in that community so effectively that no member of a minority has ever served on the Council. The purpose of this lawsuit is to give all citizens of Morgan City the opportunity for full and equal participation in the election process."

Today's lawsuit seeks a change in the method of electing the City Council in Morgan City that would give minority voters an equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.

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