By Mary Clarkin, The Hutchinson News
DODGE CITY - The legal fight over voting locations for Dodge City voters is ending.
On Monday, the Wichita-based attorney for Ford County Clerk Deborah Cox wrote in a court filing in U.S. District Court that Cox did not oppose the motion of plaintiffs to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice.
Last week, Cox announced “a concrete, specific plan to open two polling locations for the City of Dodge City, both of which are accessible to the public,” plaintiffs’ counsel, ACLU of Kansas, noted in its Friday motion to dismiss the case.
The ACLU of Kansas, on behalf of clients League of United Latin American Citizens, Kansas, and Alejandro Rangel-Lopez, sued Cox in October 2018 over the planned opening of a single site for Dodge City voters that was outside city limits. The ACLU of Kansas regards the new plan to use two new voting locations in the city for 2019 elections - in Hoover Pavilion in Wright Park and in the Knights of Columbus Hall - as a victory for everyone, according to a press release.
“We are so happy for our clients who bravely fought for voting access not just for themselves, but for their entire community,” ACLU of Kansas Interim Executive Director Lauren Bonds said in the release.
The voluntary dismissal allows the plaintiffs to refile a claim if sufficient progress isn’t made on the promised poll sites, Bonds also said in the statement.