ST. LOUIS, April 29, 2009 - A federal judge today ordered Robinwood West Community Improvement District, a small political subdivision located in unincorporated St. Louis County, to stop allowing some voters to have more than one vote in its elections.
Beginning with its 2008 election, the district, which conducts its elections by mail, allowed property owners who were also registered voters to cast an additional ballot for each piece of property they owned within the district. Registered voters who do not own property were allowed only one vote. Sixteen registered voters represented by the American Civil Liberties of Eastern Missouri filed suit saying that the practice violated the “one-person, one-vote” principle of the state and federal constitutions.
“It is a fundamental rule of democracy that each voter gets an equal say in who will represent them in government,” said Brenda Jones, executive director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. “We applaud the court’s resolve to re-instate equal voting rights in the district.”
The order came on a motion for preliminary injunction. While the court did not make a final determination that the residents had proven a violation of the constitution, it did hold that they were likely to succeed on the merits, would be irreparably harmed in the absence of an injunction, and that the public interest supported an injunction.
The case, Day et al. v. Robinwood West Community Improvement District, is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri before United States District Judge E. Richard Webber. The residents are represented by ACLU of Eastern Missouri legal director Anthony E. Rothert and cooperating attorney Daniel R. Kuehnert of St. Louis.
