Nbadan
07-16-2014, 02:58 AM
So much for trying to be the big Umbrella party....maybe the GOP should just do like some south side politicos and buy everybody an enchilada plate before ferrying them to the voting booth....couldn't hurt....
Feds: Texas voting maps deliberately discriminated
Source: AP
SAN ANTONIO —
The U.S. Justice Department told judges Monday that Texas lawmakers carefully crafted electoral maps marginalizing minority voters despite the state’s exploding Hispanic population in a deliberate effort to racially discriminate and protect conservative incumbents.
Attorneys for Texas countered that the Legislature did the best it could, given that it had to devise maps partisan enough to pass the Republican majority, while dismissing suggestions of intentional discrimination.
The case, which opened before a three-judge federal court panel in San Antonio, concerns electoral districts drawn in 2011 for U.S. House elections, as well as voting maps for the Texas House. It could also have national implications, because the Justice Department has joined and is arguing that the Voting Rights Act should still apply to Texas despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakening many of its key portions.
Last year, the high court found that Texas and 14 other states with a history of voting discrimination no longer need permission from Washington under the Voting Rights Act before changing the way elections are held. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has since vowed to preserve voter safeguards after the ruling, and the Justice Department is now using the San Antonio trial to argue that Texas still needs federal approval under a lesser-known portion of the act.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/feds-texas-voting-maps-deliberately-discriminated/ngfrz/
Feds: Texas voting maps deliberately discriminated
Source: AP
SAN ANTONIO —
The U.S. Justice Department told judges Monday that Texas lawmakers carefully crafted electoral maps marginalizing minority voters despite the state’s exploding Hispanic population in a deliberate effort to racially discriminate and protect conservative incumbents.
Attorneys for Texas countered that the Legislature did the best it could, given that it had to devise maps partisan enough to pass the Republican majority, while dismissing suggestions of intentional discrimination.
The case, which opened before a three-judge federal court panel in San Antonio, concerns electoral districts drawn in 2011 for U.S. House elections, as well as voting maps for the Texas House. It could also have national implications, because the Justice Department has joined and is arguing that the Voting Rights Act should still apply to Texas despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakening many of its key portions.
Last year, the high court found that Texas and 14 other states with a history of voting discrimination no longer need permission from Washington under the Voting Rights Act before changing the way elections are held. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has since vowed to preserve voter safeguards after the ruling, and the Justice Department is now using the San Antonio trial to argue that Texas still needs federal approval under a lesser-known portion of the act.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/feds-texas-voting-maps-deliberately-discriminated/ngfrz/