By Gene Davis

Friday, 18 November 2011

A federal court order has stalled a proposed Williamson County voting precincts redistricting map that would cause approximately 30 percent of county voters to have a new polling location after Jan. 1, 2012.

The court order postpones the submission of Texas voting precincts redistricting maps until Texas House and Congressional redistricting maps are approved. A three-judge federal panel ruled against the State of Texas on Nov. 8 by stating that the House, Congressional and Senate redistricting maps approved by the Texas Legislature could violate Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires that any redistricting map “not have a discriminatory purpose and will not have a discriminatory effect.”

The court’s ruling means the District Court for the Western District of Texas must draw new maps by Nov. 31 to serve as interim maps. A full trial would be required to determine whether the maps violated the Voting Rights Act, the judges ruled.

House District 149, which is currently in Houston but redrawn to cover Cedar Park, Leander, Brushy Creek and parts of northwest Austin, is among the districts cited by the Department of Justice as potentially violating federal civil rights voting laws. HD 149 in Williamson County would have a significantly lower voting-age minority population than HD 149 in Houston.

The office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the map was fair.

“Ironically, DOJ is objecting to districts that the Legislature specifically enacted to protect Hispanic incumbents—who happen to be Republicans—in the same manner that the Legislature worked to protect incumbents of both parties,” Texas Attorney General Office Spokeswoman Lauren Bean said.

If the Texas House redistricting map is redrawn and impacts proposed Williamson County House districts, the county voting precincts map would have to be redrawn. The voting precincts redistricting map was to be sent to the DOJ on Oct. 1 for review, but the deadline was pushed back by the pending litigation.

Williamson County commissioners approved the voting precincts redistricting map in September. The chairs of both the Republican and Democratic parties in Williamson County say the map is fair.