A federal judge ruled that a Dallas suburb illegally diminished the voting power of its growing number of Hispanic residents because of flaws in its election system and ordered city officials to modify how elections are run. The ruling by the judge, Jorge A. Solis of Federal District Court, prevents the City of Irving from using an at-large system that allows political candidates to receive votes from across a broad geographic area rather than a specific district or precinct. The ruling came in a voting-rights lawsuit against Irving that alleged that the at-large election system kept Hispanics from being elected because they were outvoted by a majority of white non-Hispanic voters supporting other candidates. The suit was filed in November 2007 on behalf of Manuel Benavidez, who has twice run unsuccessfully for the school board.