Smith v. Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement & Power District

Nichet Smith and Renaldo Fowler (“Appellants”) are African-Americans who reside within the boundaries of the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (“District”) but do not own real property within the District. Appellants claim that the criterion of land ownership for eligibility to vote in District elections violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973 (“§ 2”), because only forty percent of African-American heads-of-household within the District own homes, compared with sixty percent of white heads-of-household. The district court held that the District is not a political subdivision within the scope of § 2 and that, even if § 2 does apply, Appellants failed to demonstrate that the District’s voting system violates § 2. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . While we reject portions of the district court’s decision, we affirm its judgment that Appellants have not proved their § 2 claim against the District.

I. BACKGROUND

A. History and Structure of the District

The District comprises 260,188 acres of land located in Maricopa County, Arizona. Together with the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association (“Association”), the…