Challenges to Gainesville’s at-large voting system emerged in earnest a quarter-century ago, with fervor about the issue coming and going with election seasons.

With three council seats up for election this fall, opponents of the city’s electoral process are once again making the case for change.

“If we don’t have a council that’s willing to work with us, then we need to elect a council that is,” Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, told The Times in an interview last week. “... It disrespects our community in such a profound way that it must come to an end.”

Gonzalez was joined by several dozen Latino residents at the City Council meeting Tuesday night, with speakers urging elected officials to do away with a system they said is prejudicial to minority voters by diluting Latino and black participation and representation.

Opponents of at-large voting, wherein voters across the city cast ballots for all candidates, want to replace this method with a district voting system, whereby only voters in a particular geographic area select a candidate from their ward to represent them.

Proponents of district voting say it is more equitable, and will ensure that a Latino is elected to the council.

An estimated 42 percent of Gainesville’s population is Latino or Hispanic, and Gonzalez said there are 3,200 registered Latino voters in the city.

At-large voting was challenged in the early 1990s, but the challenge was unsuccessful after a decade-long court battle.

It was made an issue again in the 2013 mayoral election, with eventual winner Danny Dunagan saying he was opposed to any change because elected officials represent the whole city.

Cristian Ramos, a student at the University of North Georgia, said he has been inspired to engage in politics because of his own experiences facing prejudice for his ethnicity.

“If you don’t know how the political system works, you just become a victim of it,” he told councilmembers.

Other speakers urged councilmembers to be on the “right side of history.”

And UNG professor Tom Preston said he supported eliminating at-large voting because he believes it represents “taxation without representation.”

Councilwoman Ruth Bruner told those in attendance that officials would discuss the issue going forward, but it’s unclear just what support Latinos will receive.

Councilwoman Myrtle Figueras told The Times she is OK with at-large voting, as did Councilman George Wangemann.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Wangemann said, before adding the he is open to reviewing proposals for district voting.

Additionally, Wangemann said he believed it was only a matter of time before at-large voting was done away with, except in the case of electing the city’s mayor.

Meanwhile, Dunagan rejected claims by some speakers that the city is biased in how it meets constituent needs.

“I assure you we do not discriminate” when it comes to providing services to citizens, he said.

Councilman Sam Couvillon, who was elected in 2013, said that on its face, he believed at-large voting seemed discriminatory, adding that he would look deeper into the issue over the coming months.

“I want to commend those young people who had the courage to speak this evening,” he said.

But the council’s response was not satisfactory to some of those in attendance.

Maria Palacios, also a student at UNG, said she and others would continue to attend meetings and speak out about their wishes.

“I do feel there was some hostility” from the council, she told The Times. “You could see it in their face. I think now awareness has been spread to our community members on how important it is to attend these meetings.”

Gonzalez said the next steps for his organization and local Latino volunteers includes petition drives, voter registration canvassing, recruiting candidates for office and, if necessary, litigation.

“No one’s ever asked Latino voters to participate,” resulting in a disenfranchised populace, he said.

Council seats occupied by Bruner (Ward 5), Figueras (Ward 3) and Councilman Bob Hamrick (Ward 2) are up for election this November, and qualifying for the ballot begins in late August.

Gonzalez said he expects more than one Latino to be on the ballot this year.

“We’re actively recruiting to make that a reality,” he added.