Texas: How a Texas redistricting case could revive the Voting Rights Act | MSNBC

A push to fix the Voting Rights Act has stalled in Washington. But a trial taking place this week in a sleepy San Antonio courtroom could help revive the landmark law without Congress lifting a finger. At issue in the case is a redistricting plan approved in 2011 by Texas’s Republican legislature. The Obama administration charges that the plan intentionally discriminated against the state’s soaring Hispanic population in an effort to boost the GOP’s share of seats in Congress and the statehouse. Texas admits the plan was designed to help Republicans—which isn’t illegal—but says it did not aim to target Hispanics. If a three-judge panel rules against Texas, it likely would not affect the state’s congressional district maps, because a federal court has already rejected the original maps and created new ones that are fairer. Instead, the implications would be much bigger—potentially even bolstering voting protections for racial minorities in states across the country.

Texas: State accused of purposely excluding minorities in redistricting | Associated Press

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 state House. It could also have national implications — the Justice Department has joined and is arguing that the Voting Rights Act should still apply to Texas despite a recent Supreme Court ruling weakening many of its key portions.

Texas: State Fights U.S. Again Over Black, Latino Voting Rights | Bloomberg

Republican lawmakers argue they intended to weaken Democrats and not discriminate against black and Latino voters when they drew controversial election maps in 2011. To voting-rights activists and the Obama administration, it’s a distinction without a difference. They contend redrawn voting districts designed to advantage Republicans are biased against minorities who have historically voted more for Democrats. Those arguments in a three-year-old fight over Texas redistricting return to federal court today in San Antonio. It will be the first voting rights trial since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that states with a history of racial discrimination no longer need federal approval to change their election rules.

Texas: Feds taking ‘prime role’ in Texas voting maps case | Associated Press

Efforts by the Obama administration to wring protections out of a weakened Voting Rights Act begin Monday in Texas over allegations that Republicans intentionally discriminated against minorities when drawing new election maps. A federal trial in San Antonio comes a year after the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark ruling that Texas and 14 other states with a history of voting discrimination no longer need permission from Washington before changing the way elections are held. The Justice Department and minority rights groups now want a three-judge panel to decide that Texas still needs that approval under a historically obscure portion of the Voting Rights Act that has drawn new attention since the heart of the 1964 civil rights law was struck down.

Texas: Voter ID law must stand trial, judge rules | MSNBC

It’s far too soon to make any predictions. But a recent decision by a federal judge in the challenge to Texas’s harsh voter ID law may augur well for the chances of getting the law struck down when it goes to trial in September. Overturning the law would be a massive win for the Obama administration, which is spearheading the challenge, and could boost Democrats’ long-term hopes of competing in Texas. It would be an embarrassing defeat for Gov. Rick Perry and for Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is highlighting his defense of the law as he runs to succeed Perry as governor. The law, passed in 2011 with strong support from Perry, imposes the strictest ID requirement in the nation. It requires that Texans show one of a narrow range of state or federal IDs. Gun licenses are accepted, but student IDs, and even out-of-state driver’s licenses, aren’t. Finding that it would disproportionately affect minority voters, a federal court blocked the law in 2012 under the Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required the state to get federal approval for its voting laws. But hours after the Supreme Court invalidated Section 5 last year, Abbott announced that the law would go into effect.

Texas: Travis County Forges New Territory in Voting Machines | The Texas Tribune

With the nation facing what a January government report described as an “impending crisis” in voting technology, officials in Travis County are taking matters into their own hands by seeking to create a unique, next-generation system of voting machines. The efforts put Travis County, along with Los Angeles County in California, at the cutting edge of a race against time to create an alternative voting technology system. The new machines would have voters use off-the-shelf electronic equipment like tablets, but also provide them with receipts and printed ballots to allow for easier auditing. The development and implementation process won’t be finished in time for the 2016 elections, though officials hope to have the system ready by the 2018 gubernatorial race. … Some election administrators have said the status quo will likely fall apart within a few years. Across the country, “it’s all just a guessing game at this point: How long can we last?” said Dana DeBeauvoir, the Travis County clerk.

Texas: Dallas County thrown out of fed. voter ID lawsuit | KDFW

A federal judge recently ruled that Dallas County has no business being involved in a lawsuit against Texas over its Voter ID Law. The county bankrolled the partisan lawsuit using taxpayers’ money. The Voter ID Law passed in Texas in 2011, and Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey, the U.S. Justice Department and a number of others, including two Texas counties, joined the lawsuit challenging the law. Last summer, Commissioner Mike Cantrell balked over Dallas County voting to join the federal lawsuit and then voting to spend $275,000 to help pay for that lawsuit. “This is not something that our taxpayers should be on the tab for,” said Cantrell. Turns out, Cantrell was right.

Texas: Man gets three years in prison for casting a single vote | abc13.com

Adrian Heath was recently sentenced to three years in prison and slapped with a $10,000 fine, and he has become an unlikely face for voter fraud in Texas. His sentencing in a Montgomery County court capped a four-year journey that began with Heath's plan to bring more oversight to a special utility district and ended with Heath a convicted felon. Heath's interest was in The Woodlands Road Utility District, a 2,400-acre taxing body that weaves through the suburb. The district was collecting taxes to pay off bond debt and Heath wanted a say. He argued that even though his home wasn't exactly in the district -- few residences were -- it imposed taxes indirectly on him because he did much of his shopping and dining there. "We learned there was an election pending," Heath said. "Three seats open. So we said, 'Why don't we just get some people to run for those seats?'" In May 2010, Heath, along with a handful of his neighbors booked rooms at a Residence Inn inside the Road Utility District.

Texas: Young County takes voting equipment decision to the 12th hour | Graham Leader

For the fourth time, Young County Elections Administrator Lauren Sullivan pitched the purchase of new election equipment to county officials, and, for the fourth time, county officials tabled the item. The Young County Commissioners Court will discuss the new equipment one final time at its June 30 meeting; the last day the county can purchase the equipment at a drastically reduced price, according to representatives from its manufacturers, Hart Intercivic. The court’s last-minute approach has to do with the cost, more than $330,000 over 60 months, a deal that Sullivan said the county will not see again once the June 30 deadline for the discounted “cutting edge” Hart Intercivic Verity election equipment passes. Once the deadline passes, the new equipment, which Sullivan said will become a necessity one way or another, could raise in price as much as $150,000.

Texas: State Slapped With Fees From Redistricting Fight | Courthouse News Service

Texas' indignant reply to a bid for attorneys' fees in a redistricting battle is "a case study in how not to respond," a federal judge ruled, awarding the state's opponents more than $1 million. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer in Washington, D.C., said Texas "basically ignore[d] the arguments supporting an award of fees and costs" to parties that had opposed the state's lawsuit seeking approval of its 2011 redistricting plans. The Republican-controlled Legislature had redrawn election maps following a 2010 Census report that the state's population had grown by more than 4 million since 2000. Voters and various advocacy groups called the 2011 plans discriminatory, saying they diluted the strength of minority votes. As the legal challenges mounted, Texas urged a panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C., to declare that its redistricting plans "fully comply" with the Voting Rights Act.

Texas: State Republicans call for repealing the Voting Rights Act | MSNBC

When the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act last year, it allowed Texas to implement what is perhaps the nation’s strictest photo ID law. But according to the state’s Republicans, the federal government still has too much influence on how it runs elections. The Texas GOP platform, released Thursday, calls for the repeal of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, the most successful civil-rights law in the nation’s history. It also supports scrapping the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which has helped millions register to vote. And it advocates making voters re-register every four years, among other restrictive policies. In sum, the party wants to get the federal government out of the business of overseeing state elections—returning voting law to where it was before the civil rights movement. “We urge that the Voter [sic] Rights Act of 1965, codified and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized,” the platform says.

Texas: Analysis: Texas Seen as “Kind of an Electoral Wasteland” | The Texas Tribune

Voter turnout in Texas is indisputably awful. The March primaries drew 1.9 million, with only 560,033 voting in the Democratic contest and the rest voting in the more competitive Republican races. According to the Texas secretary of state’s office, there were 18.9 million adults in the state in March, and 13.6 million of them were registered to vote. Texans did even worse in the runoff last month. Only 951,461 voted — 201,008 in the Democratic primary. The competitive pickings were admittedly slim on that side of the ballot, but there is no way to spin Texas voters’ anemic level of interest into a positive commentary on civic engagement.

Texas: Judge orders new election in Weslaco’s District 5 | The Monitor

A judge ordered Weslaco to call a new District 5 City Commission election “as soon as possible” Thursday after weeks of considering arguments in an election challenge there. “This is a victory,” candidate Letty Lopez said after the decision. “The judge called it the best that he could, getting the facts on each voter.” Lopez sued Commissioner Lupe Rivera after she lost the seat by only 16 votes in November. She alleged widespread voter fraud in the contest and challenged some 44 votes.

Texas: Postal Service Woes Affect Voting | Texas Election Law Blog

State and federal legislation and rules about voter registration and absentee balloting treat the U.S. Postal Service as an institution of undiminished vitality and efficiency; capable of delivering election-related mail swiftly and unerringly. Meanwhile, the actual (as opposed to utopian) Postal Service is a wounded, diminished entity. Hemorrhaging money, hounded by critics, and damaged by privatization, competition, and fundamental shifts in the ways that people communicate with each other, the Postal Service is fighting for survival. Niceties and services in support of elections have suffered as a consequence. For example, the Postal Service no longer accommodates the State’s use of a generic postage-paid statewide voter registration application. The reason? Because mail sorting is automated, and because the Postal Service has shrunk in size, the post office will no longer allow the State to benefit from a postage-paid card that has to be re-routed to one of 254 destination counties.

Texas: House Lawmakers Debate Online Voter Registration | Texas Public Radio

A committee of House lawmakers heard the reasons why the state of Texas would be better served with an online voter registration system, but some groups remain skeptical about the possibility of voter fraud. As of April, 19 states offer online voter registration. Last legislative session Texas came very close to passing their own version but it was not added the calendar for a final vote. In this period between sessions, lawmakers are re-considering the same thing. David Becker is with the Pew Research Group and testified how this is working in other states. He said online voter registration reduces incidents of voter fraud because there is not a third party involved. “Another big advantage of online registration is its accuracy, because voters are directly putting their information in you get a lot less data entry errors. All of that is going to be correct and often checked against the motor vehicles data base,” Becker said.

Texas: Texas woman, 92, gets voter ID after struggle with state law | NY Daily News

A frail 92-year-old woman has earned her right to vote Tuesday after struggling with new voter identification laws sweeping across the U.S. Ruby Barber, a senior citizen in the small town of Bellmead, Texas, had been unable to vote because she could not find her nearly century-old birth certificate that she’d need to obtain a voter ID under a new state law. “I’m sure (my birth) was never reported because I was born in a farmhouse with a coal oil lamp,” Barber, 92, told the Waco (Texas) Tribune. “Didn’t have a doctor, just a neighbor woman come in and (delivered) me.” This was rectified Tuesday when the state was able to verify her citizenship by finding her birthday in a U.S. census taken in the 1940s, Barber's son Jimmy Denton told the Tribune. Barber also showed her Social Security card, two utility bills and her Medicare card.

Texas: Officials won’t allow 92-year-old woman to get voter ID | NY Daily News

A frail 92-year-old woman is the latest victim of new voter identification laws sweeping across the U.S. Ruby Barber, a senior citizen in the small town of Bellmead, Texas, has been unable to vote because she can’t find her nearly century-old birth certificate that she’d need to obtain a voter ID under a new state law. “I’m sure (my birth) was never reported because I was born in a farmhouse with a coal oil lamp,” Barber, 92, told the Waco (Texas) Tribune. “Didn’t have a doctor, just a neighbor woman come in and (delivered) me.” Barber visited the state’s Department of Public Safety office last week to request the newly required election identification certificate, but was declined after she didn’t have a birth certificate.

Texas: Election machine analysts arrive in Hidalgo County | The Monitor

Voting machine experts arrived in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday and began auditing machines used in the MArch 4 Democratic primary that unsuccessful candidates in that election say might have been tampered with. Three employees of Chicago-based Data Defenders set up laptops and organized some of the equipment from the previously impounded electronic voting machines at the Hidalgo County elections annex building shortly after a 9 a.m. meeting with Hidalgo County elections administration and District Attorney’s Office officials. The Data Defenders scheduled themselves to be in town collecting data for the rest of the week. Then they’ll return to their Chicago facilities for the “analysis part” of the process, said Murray Moore, an assistant district attorney overseeing a grand jury investigation into potential criminal conduct related to tampering with the machines. Moore said she hoped to have results from the analysis next month. “Think of it more like a DNA test, not like an autopsy,” she said, explaining that the process takes weeks instead of hours to complete. The data collection is open to the public, though only three media members and two members of the general public, including Sergio Muñoz Sr., sat in the observation area of the Hidalgo County elections annex to watch the process Tuesday morning.

Texas: State Ordered to Disclose Legislative Docs in Voting Case | Legal Times

Calling part of Texas' litigation position "inconsistent," a federal trial judge has ordered the state to turn over certain legislative records to the U.S. Department of Justice in a closely watched Voting Rights Act case. The Justice Department is seeking information from more than three dozen Texas state lawmakers that could illuminate the Legislature’s motivation in 2011 to enact congressional redistricting plans. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia’s ruling on Tuesday gives the federal government some access to documents that lawyers for Texas argued were off limits. Lawyers for Texas insisted the Justice Department must subpoena the individual legislators for the documents. The attorneys said Texas did not have possession of or control the documents. The state argued that the individual lawmakers are not parties in the lawsuit.

Texas: Day before final election contest trial, Hidalgo County to hire voting machine expert | The Monitor

An investigation into criminal vote tampering took a step forward Tuesday as the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court approved a $110,000 appropriation for a grand jury to hire an election machine auditor. Commissioners approved the payment, which came from seized gambling funds at the District Attorney’s Office, to go toward a grand jury investigation. The grand jury is expected to hire a Chicago-based forensic analyst to investigate possible tampering with electronic voting machines used in the March 4 Democratic primary, said Murray Moore, a DA’s Office attorney supervising the case. The impact of the investigation on the six election challenges filed by unsuccessful primary candidates could be null. Some of the election contestants filed motions to have their trials delayed pending the grand jury-ordered analysis. But five cases have already been denied, and the sixth — that of Paul Vazaldua in the justice of the peace Precinct 2 Place 2 race — is set for trial Wednesday. “Basically, this is for the grand jury investigation only,” Moore said. The grand jury will hire Data Defenders, a Chicago-based election auditing firm, to conduct the analysis, Moore said. A man who answered the phone at the number listed on Data Defenders’ website declined comment Tuesday, saying he was too busy.

Texas: Multiple elections may be causing mail-in ballot mix-ups | Dallas Morning News

Dallas County officials say they’re getting an unusually high number of calls from confused absentee voters, causing worry that some votes may not be counted this month. The confusion is related to the odd circumstance of two elections this month. Voters in many cities and school districts, including the Dallas Independent School District, go to the polls Saturday. Runoffs for the statewide primary are on May 27. It’s possible, election officials say, that absentee voters are mixing up their local and runoff ballots, or sending them in using the wrong envelopes. When that happens, those votes are lost — and the people who cast them will probably never know it. By law, election workers can’t open absentee ballots until after early voting ends. For Saturday’s municipal and school board elections, the last day of early voting was Tuesday. The ballots will be opened Wednesday. “We will know then if there is an issue,” said Dallas County Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole.

Texas: Lawsuit seeks redrawing of Texas Senate districts | Associated Press

Two Texas residents backed by a conservative legal group have filed a federal lawsuit in Austin challenging how state Senate voting districts were drawn, according to a published report Tuesday. The Project on Fair Representation wants a judge to cancel this year's primaries, which used Senate boundaries drawn by the Legislature in 2013, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Instead, the group would like to see state lawmakers ordered to draw new districts. The plaintiffs are voters in two state Senate districts represented by Republicans Kevin Eltife, of Tyler, and Tommy Williams, of The Woodlands. The lawsuit argues that the way districts were drawn was unconstitutional since it was based on total population. The districts should have been drawn only based on the number of eligible voters, excluding children, felons and noncitizens, the lawsuit says. It also says that districts with fewer eligible voters have more influence than those in districts with more eligible voters, which is unconstitutional.

Texas: Lawsuit seeks redrawing of Texas Senate districts | Associated Press

Two Texas residents backed by a conservative legal group have filed a federal lawsuit in Austin challenging how state Senate voting districts were drawn, according to a published report Tuesday. The Project on Fair Representation wants a judge to cancel this year’s primaries, which used Senate boundaries drawn by the Legislature in 2013, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Instead, the group would like to see state lawmakers ordered to draw new districts. The plaintiffs are voters in two state Senate districts represented by Republicans Kevin Eltife of Tyler and Tommy Williams of The Woodlands. The lawsuit argues that the way districts were drawn was unconstitutional since it was based on total population. The districts should have been drawn only based on the number of eligible voters, excluding children, felons and noncitizens, the lawsuit says. It also says that districts with fewer eligible voters have more influence than those in districts with more eligible voters, which is unconstitutional. 

Texas: Justice Department, Texas Clash Over Discovery in Voting Rights Case | Legal Times

The U.S. Department of Justice and Texas have locked horns over discovery in a prominent voting rights challenge. Lawyers from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division asked a panel of judges Wednesday to compel Texas to turn over legislative documents that "may shed light on the Texas Legislature’s motivation" for enacting the 2011 congressional redistricting plans. Specifically, the department’s lawyer say they've asked Texas to supplement its responses to similar document requests in other litigation in the state over alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This time, Texas said no, according to the Justice Department.

Texas: Justice Department, Texas Clash Over Discovery in Voting Rights Case | Legal Times

The U.S. Department of Justice and Texas have locked horns over discovery in a prominent voting rights challenge. Lawyers from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division asked a panel of judges Wednesday to compel Texas to turn over legislative documents that "may shed light on the Texas Legislature’s motivation" for enacting the 2011 congressional redistricting plans. Specifically, the department’s lawyer say they've asked Texas to supplement its responses to similar document requests in other litigation in the state over alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This time, Texas said no, according to the Justice Department.

Texas: Barack Obama pushes voting rights in Texas | Politico

President Barack Obama on Wednesday joined the larger Democratic effort to spotlight voting rights ahead of this year’s midterms, blasting “active efforts to deter people from voting. Apparently it’s fairly active here in Texas,” he told supporters at a Houston fundraiser. “The idea that you’d purposely try to prevent people from voting? Un-American. How is it that we’re putting up with that? We don’t have to.” Attorney General Eric Holder delivered his own address to the group Wednesday in New York, recounting the Justice Department’s efforts on the issue since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act last year.

Texas: Judge stops investigation into Battleground Texas | Associated Press

A state district judge has thrown out a complaint filed against the Democratic outreach group Battleground Texas that was based on a conservative filmmaker's video, a special prosecutor said Monday. Special prosecutor John Economidy, a Republican, told The Associated Press that he and fellow special prosecutor Christine Del Prado, a Democrat, determined that Battleground Texas did not violate state election law by transcribing phone numbers submitted on voter registration forms. San Antonio Judge Raymond Angelini signed the dismissal without comment on Friday, Economidy added. The inquiry began after conservative activist James O'Keefe and his group, Project Veritas, made a video that purported to show Battleground Texas workers talking about transcribing telephone numbers from voter registration cards they'd collected. O'Keefe said in the video that taking phone numbers violated Texas law, and Republican leaders, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, called for a criminal investigation.

Texas: Hidalgo County grand jury to hire forensic analyst for voting machines | The Monitor

An Hidalgo County grand jury Thursday took a step toward investigating possible criminal tampering with voting machines in the recent Democratic primary, District Attorney Rene Guerra said. The grand jury signed an order to hire a forensic analyst to inspect the voting machines used during early voting in late February and Election Day on March 4. The order is “requesting that experts be hired to look at the machines and determine if they were properly functioning during the primary election,” Guerra said. “I think it’s necessary and I think we can do it real quick-like,” he added.

Texas: Electronic voting flash drive prompts re-tally of March Primary | Pleasanton Express

A recount of the Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Republican Primary race between Debra Ann Herrera and Michael Pascarella revealed 73 votes had not been counted during the March Primary election. In that race Herrera had received 141 votes and Pascarella had received 144. The three-vote difference prompted Herrera to ask for a re-count. After the recount, Herrera picked up 33 votes and Pascarella received 40 more votes. The disparity alerted the officials and those sitting in that something was definitely off. It was discovered that a MBB drive from one of the electronic voting machines used in early voting had not been downloaded in the March 4 tallying of votes.

Texas: Commissioners Court drops Hidalgo County voting machine investigation; DA’s probe to continue | The Monitor

Hidalgo County commissioners will have no more official involvement with an investigation into irregularities in voting machines, they decided Tuesday morning. Instead, they’ll leave the investigation in the hands of state District Court judges and the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office. DA Rene Guerra will continue a criminal investigation into possible tampering with electronic voting machines, starting with asking a grand jury to hire an expert to analyze the machines’ logs.“We’re going to present to a grand jury asking them to assume the jurisdiction of the machines through a proper court order so that they, the grand jurors, with the court’s assistance and disposition with proper orders, will be able to look into the allegations as to the election machines and help us hire an expert or two to investigate,” Guerra told reporters at the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court on Tuesday.