The state probably won’t have political maps for federal and state legislators until November and possibly December, crowding the filing-fundraising-campaigning cycle into the holidays and perilously close to the March primaries.
redistricting
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State Government
Federal Court to Texas Election Officials: Wait
State officials in Texas can hold off on election preparations, a federal court said Thursday, but with Texas’ political maps still in limbo, they also didn’t get a new set of deadlines to help them get ready for the 2012 elections.
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Politics
In the Map Rooms
The Justice Department didn’t find fault (put an asterisk here) with the Senate and State Board of Education redistricting maps from Texas, but told a federal court in Washington, DC, that it thinks the maps for the congressional delegation and for the Texas House go backwards in minority representation.
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Politics
The Texas Weekly Index: March Fights, November Peace
General elections in Texas will be less competitive than ever under the redistricting maps approved by the Legislature earlier this year. The political threats to incumbents, if any, will come in primaries and not in general elections.
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Politics
Feds: Proposed Texas Maps Undermine Minority Voting Rights
The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that new political maps for the Texas House and the state’s congressional delegation don’t protect the electoral power of the state’s minority populations as required by the federal Voting Right Act.
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State Government
Maps Ensure Melees in March, Peace in November
General elections in Texas will be less competitive than ever under the redistricting maps approved by the Legislature earlier this year. The takeaway is simple: Texas has a strongly Republican map and the political threats to incumbents, if any, will come in primaries and not in general elections.
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Politics
The Texas Weekly Index
Lots of things affect election outcomes. Candidates. Money. Issues. Surprises. But some of the results are wired into district maps, through redistricting. Here’s our charting of the political atmosphere — Republican or Democratic — in each of the House, Senate and congressional districts drawn by the Legislature this year.
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Politics
Court Cartography
Don’t expect a redistricting ruling out of San Antonio quickly. Some of the lawyers — and this requires more lawyers than a Hollywood divorce — say the Texas judges might hold their ruling until the DC courts are finished. That could be November, or even December.
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Politics
Challenge to Texas Redistricting Opens in Federal Court
The state’s new political maps are now in the hands of the federal government. An army of lawyers lined up before the start of federal hearings on Tuesday, lugging boxes of papers and briefcases bulging with the scribbled notes and other arguments they’ll present over the next two weeks.
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Politics
Why the Redistricting Lawsuit Matters
Because — as both Democrats and Republicans know well — the drawing of congressional, legislative and State Board of Education district lines determines, to a large extent, the outcomes of future elections.
