I didn’t follow the day to day reports from the voter ID preclearance trial, mostly because there wasn’t anything in the testimony that was truly unexpected. Lots of numbers, some of questionable provenance, were presented. The state continued to claim that nobody would be prevented from voting, not even the people who don’t have drivers [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Voting Rights Act’
Voter ID trial, day one
And they’re off, with the state bringing the funny math as part of its case. A Justice Department lawyer, Elizabeth Westfall, argued that the law has the potential to prevent 1.4 million Texans from voting who are eligible but lack the required photo identification — a disproportionate number of them minorities. Previewing the case the [...]
Voter ID trial starts today
Another big lawsuit in a year that’s seen plenty of them. The decades-old legal battle between states’ rights and civil rights returns to a familiar venue – a federal courtroom – on Monday as lawyers for the state of Texas try to convince a panel of judges that the U.S. Justice Department has no legal [...]
Yet another voting-related lawsuit
I had completely forgotten about this. A federal judge in Galveston is to consider motions in a lawsuit filed by a Washington-based voters’ rights group that contends Texas laws make it illegally difficult to register voters. The group Voting for America is seeking an injunction to block enforcement of laws they say keep registration records [...]
Abbott gives on legislative privilege
About time. In an effort to move to trial more quickly, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has quietly dropped his opposition to the Department of Justice’s request to take depositions from state lawmakers in the voter identification case. In March, Abbott asked a federal court in Washington to shield 12 state lawmakers from giving depositions [...]
A trio of trial updates
Planned Parenthood versus Texas: A ruling affecting health care, including contraception, for some 130,000 low-income Texas women probably won’t come until late this year as Planned Parenthood and the state of Texas plan for mid-October oral arguments in their legal fight. The state is appealing a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel granted [...]
Voter ID trial likely to be delayed
And if it is, it’s all the fault of the State of Texas. In another blow to advocates of Texas’ voter ID law, a federal district court ruled today that the law will likely not be in place by the November general election unless the state turns over requested documents by Wednesday. [...] Late last [...]
Delay in voter ID trial requested
From Michael Li: Intervenors in the Texas voter ID case asked the court today to delay the scheduled July 9 start of trial in the case, citing discovery delays by the State of Texas. The intervenors said the delays had already put the parties at least five weeks behind schedule. According to the motion: From [...]
Who testifies about voter ID?
That was the question before the federal court on Tuesday. U.S. Justice Department lawyers told a federal three-judge panel Tuesday that Texas legislators should not be shielded from testifying in a voter ID case. But lawyers for state Attorney General Greg Abbott said deposing statehouse Republicans to determine legislative intent of the new photo ID [...]
Voter ID lawsuit action this week
Tomorrow, the DC Court will hear “oral argument on the State of Texas’ request to block the depositions of 12 Republican legislators who were involved with the voter ID bill, including State Sen. Dan Patrick and state representatives Debbie Riddle and Leo Berman as well as Speaker Joe Straus”. The motion also sought to bar [...]
Examining the voter ID lie
I’ve complained quite a bit at how the media in Texas lazily reports the voter ID issue as a simple “he said/she said” dispute when a cursory examination of the facts shows how ridiculous the pro-voter ID case is, so I’ll give the Chron some credit for this story that asks whether the facts justify [...]
Why no ID?
Grits asks an interesting question. Why do so many adult Texans lack ID? In part because 2 million drivers have had their drivers licenses revoked because of nonpayment of the Driver Responsibility Surcharge, which readers will recall is a stiff civil penalty tacked on top of any fines, punishments or court costs stemming from certain [...]
Texas goes long on voter ID
From Michael Li: The State of Texas is seeking permission from the three-judge panel in the voter ID case to file an amended complaint that would directly challenge the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The amended complaint told the court in the introduction that, as an alternative grounds for relief, “the [...]
More on the feds’ rejection of the Texas voter ID law
Here’s the Trib story. The U.S. Department of Justice has rejected Texas’ application for preclearance of its voter ID law, saying the state did not prove that the bill would not have a discriminatory effect on minority voters. “The department’s letter states that Texas did not meet its burden under Section 5 of the Voting [...]
DOJ refuses to preclear Texas voter ID law
Good news. I’m not in a position to do any analysis of this now – I’ll have something for tomorrow morning – but for now I wanted to note this development. The state will proceed with its lawsuit, so we are far from the end of the road on this.
DOJ denies Galveston County redistricting
Just a reminder that there’s more to redistricting than the state level. The U.S. Department of Justice late Monday rejected Galveston County’s proposed redistricting maps for county commissioner precincts, justices of the peace and constables. The rejection could put at risk the county’s ability to hold county commissioner elections by the May 29 primary date. [...]
News flash: The voter ID law will do exactly what it was intended to do
And that is to make it harder to vote. Mostly for the poor, the elderly, college students, and minorities. This is a feature, not a bug. The state’s contested voter ID law could provoke widespread complications in the upcoming presidential elections, with as many as 18 percent of all registered voters across Texas apparently lacking [...]
May 29 election date and re-filing period officially set
Here’s the court order, and here’s the revised election calendar. The main things you need to know are that candidates who had filed for office in the prior period are automatically in unless they withdraw. The new filing period runs from tomorrow, March 2, through 6 PM next Friday, March 9. Candidates also have until [...]
State agrees to leave SD10 unchanged
This is big. Negotiators in San Antonio — trying to find common ground on state legislative and congressional districts so a primary date in Texas that can stick may finally be set — agreed to leave unchanged state Senate District 10, now represented by state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. This district has been the [...]
The plaintiffs’ proposal for the Lege
I know it will break your heart to hear that Harris County GOP Chair Jared Woodfill is a little peeved at Greg Abbott and Steve Munisteri because he thinks the Abbott map makes Harris County too Democratic. What got Woodfill going was Munisteri’s willingness to go along with a map Abbott produced that would cost [...]
The numbers in the “deal”
As I start to type this I have no idea if the “deal” that was announced earlier today will be in effect or on the trash heap. I think it’s instructive to look at the numbers in the proposed maps anyway, since they give a good idea of how much the state was willing to [...]
DC court will take its time
At least a month. A panel of federal judges told parties in a Texas redistricting case Wednesday not to expect a ruling within 30 days, throwing the date of the state’s political primaries further in doubt. A ruling by the District of Columbia court in the complex case was expected to provide guidance to another [...]
Redistricting settlement deal looking unlikely
Late last week we heard about the possibility of a settlement agreement in the San Antonio redistricting case that would allow for the creation of interim maps in time to keep the April 3 primary date. The court gave this Friday as a drop dead date for getting that done. As of today, it’s looking [...]
Meet the voter ID three judge panel
As you know, the state of Texas has filed a lawsuit in the DC District Federal Court – the same court that is hearing the preclearance lawsuit – to get the odious voter ID law precleared. Michael Li introduces us to the judges that will be hearing this case. Texas’ suit over its voter ID [...]
Could there be a settlement in the redistricting lawsuit?
Maybe. A leading player in the state’s redistricting turmoil said this morning he’s hopeful that both sides are closing in on a settlement that will salvage Texas’ April 3 primary. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been meeting with representatives of minority groups that sued the state last year to stop new political boundaries from [...]
Alford strikes again
Wow. A key witness before a federal three-judge panel considering the Texas redistricting challenge appeared to make a major concession Wednesday to the case made last week by state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. The state’s expert witness, John Alford of Rice University, was on the stand to defend the districts drawn by the Texas [...]
Texas files suit to preclear voter ID
They’re a mighty busy bunch at the OAG these days. The Texas attorney general’s office today filed suit against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice to have the state’s controversial voter ID law implemented without further delay. The law, Senate Bill 14 by state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, was scheduled [...]
Trying to save the April 3 primary date
The race is on to get new maps in hand in time to keep the April 3 primary date, since all the options for after that date are distinctly unpalatable in one way or another. On Friday, the State of Texas asked the San Antonio court to get its work done by January 30. The [...]
SCOTUS issues ruling on redistricting
As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, the Supreme Court has officially thrown out the interim maps that were drawn by the San Antonio court, in a unanimous decision handed down this morning. What does this mean? I’m going to start with Adam B at Daily Kos: Let’s take a step back: Texas’ legislature drew a [...]
DC preclearance trial, Day One
While we wait for the Supreme Court to give us some indication of what happens next with our elections – they did not issue an opinion this week – the preclearance trial at the DC federal court got underway. State Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, testified that hearings were held statewide to allow input from [...]
SOS sends voter registration info to DOJ
Took them long enough, not that I’m complaining. Two weeks after Texas’ voter ID law was scheduled to go into effect, the measure is back in the U.S. Department of Justice’s hands. The Texas secretary of state’s office on Thursday submitted its latest batch of data in hopes of satisfying the federal government’s request for [...]