TEXAS REDISTRICTING

Answers to some questions that have come in.

Who’s where on the partial deal announced yesterday by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott?

As of right now, the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, Congressman Henry Cuellar (D, TX-28) and Congressman Quico Canseco (R, TX-23) are signed off on the maps proposed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. The Republican Party of Texas also has issued a statement supportive of the maps.

The maps are opposed by:

• the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, 
• LULAC, 
• the NAACP, 
• State Senator Wendy Davis, 
• the three African-American members of Congress, 
• the Quesada plaintiffs
• the Travis County plaintiffs, 
• the Perez plaintiffs, 
• the Texas Democratic Party and 
• Congressman Joe Barton (R, TX-6). 

Although it is not a party to the San Antonio case, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus also opposes the maps.

Is an April 3 primary dead?

In a word, yes.

What next?

The San Antonio court has scheduled a hearing on interim maps and the election schedule for next Wednesday, February 15, with briefs on a broad range of issues due this Friday.

That gives the parties a week to continue talking, and it is possible further consensus could be reached.  If there isn’t a consensus, the court will begin the process of drawing interim maps.

The state and the Republican Party of Texas have said that they think matters are far along enough that the court should be able to complete maps by February 20 and allow a primary to go forward on April 10 or April 17.  However, there are some legal and logistical issues that still might prevent that (more here).

The RPT also has suggested April 24 as a primary date but, at the last hearing, there was some concern that day would prove to be unworkable because of the need to prepare for early voting in municipal and school board elections, which begins the following week.

If April doesn’t work, the most viable dates after that are May 29 and June 26.

Could the primary still be split? What would a split primary look like?

Yes, although there is a cost issue that needs to be resolved.  The Texas Democratic Party and other parties are on record opposing a split primary unless the state agrees to pick up any additional associated cost.

If the primary is split, most discussion has been about an arrangement that would have an April presidential primary, followed by a late May or June primary for all other races. Although statewide and countywide races theoretically could be included in an April primary, the talk, thus far at least, is that kind of split would result in too much voter confusion.

What about the D.C. preclearance case?  Could the court wait for a D.C. decision?

The two cases really are on separate tracks now.  The D.C. court has said that it will not rule until March, and the San Antonio court said in its February 2 order that the “parties should assume that this Court will announce interim maps before any decision is rendered by the D.C. Court.” The only question is how quickly the San Antonio court will be able to complete the process.