The Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials is making its disdain for Gainesville’s at-large voting system for City Council official.In a Aug. 21 letter to Gainesville Attorney James E. “Bubba” Palmour, a legal firm representing the organization, Federal & Hasson, says the current system of electing members to the board “diminishes and dilutes” Latinos’ ability to elect the candidate of their choice.The Times obtained the letter from a blog on the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s website. GALEO’s executive director and City Manager Kip Padgett have confirmed the ongoing discussions.Gainesville’s local election system allows voters citywide to elect representatives for each of the city’s five wards.City Council members have historically held that the system creates a council that uniformly represents all city residents and eliminates divisiveness.GALEO sees it as an impediment to Latino voting power and says it may violate the Voting Rights Act.“It is absolutely essential that Gainesville’s growing Latino population have an equal voice in the election of their candidates of choice,” the letter states.In the letter, the attorney representing GALEO states that the voting system has been “abolished throughout Georgia with notable exceptions such as Forsyth County, the city of Gainesville and the city of Dalton.”“It should be unnecessary for Gainesville’s citizens to be forced to resort to the expense of litigation in order to remove this obstacle to the exercise of their franchise,” the letter states. “However, if litigation is required, GALEO is a proper party to vindicate this plain violation of the voting rights of Gainesville’s citizens and GALEO is prepared to fulfill this role.”Forsyth County no longer elects its commissioners countywide.Jerry Gonzalez, GALEO’s executive director, said the association is also working with officials in Dalton to end at-large voting there.He said Dalton Mayor David Pennington and another council member have expressed their desire to work with GALEO to change the voting system.For the first time in 2011, council members approved a map of voting districts that specifically designated a ward with a voting-age population that was majority Latino.