Lowell has a proud history as a city that is home to a diverse population. However, the demographics of Lowell’s City Council and School Board have not reflected the city’s diverse population, as they are almost entirely dominated by white members. This is particularly concerning as many policies maintained by the council and school board effect the lives of the city’s communities of color. A 2017 lawsuit alleged that the lack of council/board diversity were caused by the use of an at-large plurality voting system, an electoral strategy struck down by a number of previous court cases. The lawsuit was settled out of court, without a formal trial.

Document D

An excerpt from the original complaint for Huot v. City of Lowell, filed May 18, 2017.

“1. The right to vote—and the principle that everyone’s vote should count equally— is at the very core of our democracy. Plaintiffs are members of the City of Lowell’s large and growing minority community who bring this lawsuit to enforce the federal laws that protect this fundamental right. Specifically, Plaintiffs challenge Lowell’s at-large plurality municipal electoral system, which unlawfully and unconstitutionally dilutes the vote of minorities in Lowell and deprives them of an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee.

2. The numbers are stark. Lowell today is on the cusp of being a majority-minority city, with minorities constituting more than 49% of Lowell’s total population. Lowell’s Asian American and Hispanic/Latino communities by themselves constitute nearly 40% of the city’s total population. Yet the nine-member Lowell City Council is currently all-white, and has been so for virtually all of Lowell’s history. The six-member Lowell School Committee is similarly all-white, and, to Plaintiffs’ knowledge, has never had a single minority representative…

6. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as well as under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution…

10. For these reasons, and as further alleged in detail below, Plaintiffs seek, among other things, declaratory judgment and injunctive relief prohibiting the further utilization of an entirely at-large plurality system for electing members of the Lowell City Council and Lowell School Committee."

Document E

Two charts illustrating the demographics of Lowell between 2007-2015.