Equal Voting Rights for Cheektowaga

My name is Kenneth Young and I’m fighting for equal voting rights for the residents of the Town of Cheektowaga in New York. Currently, Cheektowaga has an "at-large" election system that makes it difficult for minorities to win elections and represent residents of the Town.

In the past election cycle, I campaigned for the Town Board and was unsuccessful due to the election system. A remedy for fixing this unfair voting method is to establish a ward system and a two-term limit. We will file a lawsuit if the Town Board does not act appropriately by Feb 1, 2024. My fundraiser will be used to hire an expert to calculate racially polarized voting statistics to complete this process and demonstrate violations of the New York Voting Rights Act.

You can read my letter here:

NYVRA Notification Letter

You can learn more about my efforts here: (Full text below)

Full Articles

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Cheektowaga faces challenge to election methods under new state voting rights law, Buffalo News, 12/19/23

A former Cheektowaga Town Board candidate claims the town’s voting system prevents minority candidates from being elected and is urging officials to consider making a change.

Ken Young, a Black resident who campaigned as a Democrat for a spot on the board this past election cycle, wants the Town Board to implement a ward system for voting and impose a two-term limit for board members. He laid out his claims in a notice he filed with the town last week under the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York.

Cheektowaga’s elections are all at large, meaning the officials whom residents elect represent the entire town. This is different from the City of Buffalo, for example, whose Common Council members each represent one of nine districts in the city.

One of Diane Benczkowski's final acts as Cheektowaga town supervisor is an attempt to downsize the municipality's board from six members to four.

In 1953, Cheektowaga residents had voted to implement a ward system, like the one Young is requesting, but the decision was reversed during a subsequent election.

Under this at-large method, Young received the most votes in the neighborhoods with the most Black residents, he wrote in his letter. But overall, he received the fewest votes among the six candidates who ran for three Town Board seats.

Most of Cheektowaga’s Black residents live in the northwest corner of the town, west of Union Road and north of Broadway Street, according to Young’s letter. In this area, Young received 2,309 votes, about 30% of his overall vote total.

This is proof, he claims in his letter, that voting in Cheektowaga is “racially polarized,” meaning the candidates preferred by minority voters are different from those preferred by white voters, and therefore, the minority population’s votes are outnumbered.

“Imagine a jurisdiction with a substantial Black population, but that population isn’t large enough to reliably elect the candidates preferred by Black voters,” said Michael Pernick, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “Those Black voters might have zero representation in their town government if there’s an at-large election, and white voters in the majority consistently elect candidates they prefer.”

Young said there is no way he or another minority candidate could win a spot on the board without a ward system in place.

“It’s not your fault that the town does not want to elect a minority,” Young said, addressing the Town Board during its meeting Tuesday evening. “But it is your fault to not put wards in so that a minority can be elected.”

Supervisor-elect Brian Nowak, who will take over leadership of the town from Diane Benczkowski on Jan. 1, said the town has received Young’s letter, and the legal department is looking into it. It is too soon to say what the town plans to do to address Young’s claims, Nowak said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 77% of Cheektowaga residents are white, while 12% are Black. A little more than 4% are Hispanic or Latino, and nearly 3% are Asian.

“I think it is clear as day that a Black person in this town has no chance of getting elected under the at-large system,” Young’s attorney, Gary Borek, said during the meeting.

This election was not Young’s first foray into Cheektowaga politics. He previously ran for a Town Board seat in 2015, and has been a member of the Cheektowaga Democratic Committee for 20 years. He is the president of the Town Park Community Association in Cheektowaga and has served on the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals, Police Reform Task Force and Board of Assessment Review, according to his campaign website.

Town can avoid costly suit under voting act provisions

The state’s Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 2022 by Gov. Kathy Hochul and encourages participation in voting by all eligible voters – particularly members of racial, ethnic and language-minority groups – by ensuring that barriers to accessing the polls are removed.

Upon receiving Young’s notification letter, the Town Board has 50 days to evaluate his claim and decide whether there is a violation it wants to remedy, said Pernick, who was involved in developing and advocating for the New York Voting Rights Act.

If the board chooses to act, it must pass a resolution laying out the steps it will take to remedy the complaint. The town then has 90 days to implement its plan.

If the board does not act, Young can file a lawsuit, and then it is up to the courts to decide if there is a violation and what the remedy will be.

“The bill is designed to give jurisdictions a safe harbor from litigation,” Pernick said. “There’s an opportunity for local governments to remedy a potential violation before they have to go to court.”

Litigating these types of court cases can be expensive, Pernick said.

A group of Latino residents in Long Island sued the Town of Islip under the federal Voting Rights Act to end the town’s at-large election system. In 2020, a judge ruled in favor of the residents. The municipality spent over $3 million to defend the lawsuit, and then was ordered to pay the residents’ legal costs, which were another $900,000.

In Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, a group of Latino residents were the first to file a claim of voter disenfranchisement under the new state Voting Rights Act.

The town government hired experts to review voting and demographics data and found elections in the town were racially polarized. The Mount Pleasant Town Board held two public hearings on the matter, but has not decided how it will move forward, according to News 12 Westchester.

“If (a municipality) believes that they are potentially in violation, it’s very important for them to voluntarily remedy that violation without going to court and risking an extended and adversarial and very costly judicial process,” Pernick said.

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Town faces potential lawsuit for alleged civil rights violation

Cheektowaga Bee, 12/21/2023

Only half of Cheektowaga is being represented fairly, according to a former town council candidate. Now, the town faces a lawsuit to ensure all neighborhoods have a spokesperson for their area.

Ken Young believes that only South Cheektowaga is being represented fairly within the Cheektowaga Town Board, and believes bringing back a ward system to the town board would benefit every community that is being underserved. Young and his attorney, Gary Borek, brought this issue to the town board on Tuesday, Dec. 12.

“Black and Brown communities are entitled to have a candidate of their choice,” Young said. “I know because of the statistics that we got, I won the districts that I am referring to. They’re disenfranchising this side of town, because we can’t get someone from my area to represent us because of the overwhelming vote from South Cheektowaga. I’m seeking to ensure all citizens of Cheektowaga will have full representation. The current practices impede this effort.”

“You can see from the statistics that we are a racially polarized voting community, by definition,” Borek said. “Ken Young was a top vote-getter in my neighborhood, and the quadrant of Northwest Cheektowaga. If you had four wards, he would have won the election. But when the vote moves outside of that neighborhood, Ken Young comes in last, so much so that he ends up coming in last overall. His entire lead in that neighborhood disappears. I think it is clear as day that a Black person in this town has no chance of getting elected under the at-large system.”

In November of 2023, Young, a Black resident of the North West section of the Town of Cheektowaga, was one of six candidates for three seats on the town board. Young came in last in the total at-large voting.

At-large voting for these prepositions means members of a governing body are elected or appointed to represent a community at whole or population rather than a subset.

Young came in as the top vote-getter in the northern election districts where more minority residents reside. Young, however, received the least amount of votes in non-minority neighborhoods, and this reduction was so great, it caused Young from being the top vote-getter to being the bottom vote-getter overall.

According to Borek, if a ward system was in place during this election instead of an at-large voting method, Young would have won the seat for North West Cheektowaga by a landslide.

The New York State John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act came into law on July 1, 2023. This act is the foundation of the lawsuit Young and Borek are bringing to the town. The main purpose of this law, according to its text, is “to encourage participation in the elective franchise by all eligible voters to the maximum extent; and to ensure that eligible voters who are members of racial, color, and language-minority groups will have an equal opportunity to vote and participate in local government.”

More importantly to Cheektowaga’s specific situation, Section 17-206(2)(a) of the election law prohibits the use of “any method of election, having the effect of impairing the ability of members of a protected class to elect candidates of their choice or influence the outcome of elections, as a result of vote dilution.”

This section states that a violation of this law would show that voting patterns are racially polarized, meaning the election process is impaired due to the majority class having power to elect a candidate with their own political preferences.

Young said that bringing a ward system into the town government would include focus on more local issues pertaining to a specific community as each councilmember would be focused on a smaller quadrant, rather then the town as a whole, including representing the minority neighborhoods.

“We’re not represented on the board,” Young said. “People from South Cheektowaga have been representing us the best they could. But every area should have their own representation from their own neighborhood that they can speak to about issues in their neighborhoods. … In my mind, the current council on the south side of town isn’t representing us.”

Young emphasized one issue being the under utilization of Town Park on Harlem Road, and the potential there is for the area, specifically comparing the park to Stiglmeier Park in South Cheektowaga.

“We need more police presence over here, we can do more with Town Park, which is under utilized. Right now, Town Park is just a park, but Stiglmeier Park is lit up and festive, it’s beautiful. Why is that park any different than Town Park?”

There have been more crimes reported in North Cheektowaga, specifically at Town Park, which had a shooting earlier in the year, and Young says that deters people from visiting. Young says this is most likely because it’s seen as a “dangerous park” by the public, when instead he says it’s because all you hear in the media is negative things since nothing is ever happening at the park to bring “good press.”

“We need someone representing this area that can bring events to the park other than German Fest and Polish Fest. There’s nothing against these events, but since there’s a higher minority population out there, why can’t we host events that cater to the residents in that area,” Young said. “The park should host things like Rhythm and Blues festivals or jazz.”

Young has been campaigning for a club to bring police and the community together, especially in North Cheektowaga, to build a stronger community relationship. Young said it’s important to include the Black and Brown community from this area, yet no one on the current council is representing them.

“I hope to accomplish creating community leaders and activists, making sure the issues in every community are addressed,” Young said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with being Black or white, but rather make things happen in particular neighborhoods.”

Young said South Cheektowaga is clearly shown favoritism in the local government, and North Cheektowaga is “behind in the times.”

In a statement provided by Borek and Young, the data “leaves no doubt that the voting patterns of members of the protected class within the political subdivision are racially polarized, and that the ability of Black residents are unable to elect candidates of their choice under the existing at-large system.”

A letter with regulations of this new system has been sent to each councilmember, and the board as a whole must vote to approve a two-term limit ward system town board by Feb 1. If they do not respond, Young said he will contact the New York State Attorney General’s civil rights bureau. This Civil Rights Bureau would then force the town to implement this system as per its legal authority to do so according to NY election law 17-206(7)(c)(5)), he said.

The town board has until Feb. 1, 2024, to make a decision as to how to move forward with this request before the Civil Rights Bureau gets involved.

The state’s Voting Rights Act, signed into law in 2022 by Gov. Kathy Hochul, encourages participation in voting by all eligible voters – particularly members of racial, ethnic and language minority groups – by ensuring that barriers to accessing the polls are removed.

The town board received Young’s notification letter on Dec. 12, and has 50 days to evaluate his claim and decide whether there is a violation it wants to remedy.

If the board chooses to act, it must pass a resolution laying out the steps it will take to remedy the complaint. The town then has 90 days to implement its plan.

If the board does not act, Young can file a lawsuit, and then it is up to the courts to decide, with the assistance of the Civil Right Bureau, if there is a violation and what the remedy will be.