Texas: Justice Department Blasts Voter ID Law | NPR

The U.S. Department of Justice says a Texas law requiring most people to show ID before they can vote will discriminate against minorities. In court documents filed today, the department says there is substantial evidence that minorities will be affected the most: Among other evidence, records produced by the State of Texas indicate that S.B. 14 will disenfranchise at least 600,000 voters who currently lack necessary photo identification and that minority registered voters will be disproportionately affected by the law, based on both a greater likelihood of lacking a required form of photo identification and a lesser ability to obtain a necessary identification.

Texas: Push is on to make Texas GOP primary a winner-take-all battle | Star Telegram

Rick Santorum, trying to keep his presidential hopes alive despite increasingly long odds, is looking for the political equivalent of a Hail Mary pass from Texas Republicans. A group of Texas party activists, led by Santorum supporters, are waging an uphill battle to change the rules of the May 29 primary so that whoever wins would get all 152 delegates up for grabs in the contest. The activists say they have enough support to force an emergency meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee, though major hurdles loom beyond that. The Republican National Committee would have to approve the last-ditch move to change the delegate selection process because of the late date of the request, officials say. An RNC official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that would be highly unlikely. Later, the RNC communications director, Sean Spicer, said there is "no basis" for a change and that Texas would "remain a proportional state," according to a posting on Twitter from The Washington Post. The change might also require approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Texas: Santorum Backers Look to Change Texas Primary Rules | The Texas Tribune

Rick Santorum, trying to keep his presidential hopes alive despite increasingly long odds, is looking for the political equivalent of a Hail Mary pass from Texas Republicans. Santorum has noted in recent days that some Texas party activists are waging an uphill battle to change the rules of the May 29 primary so that whoever wins would get all 152 delegates up for grabs in the contest. The activists, led by Santorum supporters, say they have enough support to force an emergency meeting of the State Republican Executive Committee, though major hurdles loom beyond that. The Republican National Committee would have to approve the last-ditch move to change the delegate selection process because of the late date of the request, officials say. An RNC official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that would be highly unlikely. Later, the RNC communications director, Sean Spicer, said there is "no basis" for a change and that Texas would "remain a proportional state," according to a posting on Twitter from The Washington Post. The change might also require approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Texas: Feds, AG duel over who must testify in Texas voter ID case | San Antonio Express-News

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 requirement amounted to a “fishing expedition” by Justice Department attorneys. The panel — Circuit Judge David Tatel, District Judge Robert Wilkins and District Judge Rosemary Collyer — is expected to rule soon on motions to expedite proceedings. A tentative trial date of July 30 is being considered, which would allow the photo ID law to be implemented for the November general election.

Texas: Justice Department says Texas legislators should be forced to testify about Voter ID law | Chron.com

U.S. Justice Department lawyers told a federal three-judge panel today that Texas state legislators should not be shielded from testifying in a case centering on the legality of the state’s new Voter ID law. But lawyers for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said deposing statehouse Republicans to determine legislative intent of the new photo ID law amounted to a “fishing expedition” by Justice Department attorneys. The judges, Circuit Judge David Tatel, District Judge Robert Wilkins and District Judge Rosemary Collyer, are expected to rule soon on motions to expedite proceedings.

Texas: Filing Targets Texas Lawmakers’ Voter ID Communications | The Texas Tribune

In the latest development in Texas’ battle with the Obama administration over the state’s voter ID law, the U.S. Department of Justice is urging a federal court to deny the state’s request to keep certain communications between lawmakers, staff and constituents out of upcoming court proceedings. In a court filing dated Thursday, the department argued that it should be allowed to “depose those legislators believed to have had the most active role in drafting, introducing, and advocating for SB 14.” The law requires that voters furnish photo identification before casting a ballot. The filing was in response to the state’s request for a protective order, in which it argues that the communications in question should be excluded based on state privilege.

Texas: State Tries To Keep Voter ID Debate Secret | TPM

The state of Texas wants the discussions their Republican legislators had about passing a voter ID law to stay secret. Texas, which sued the federal government in an attempt to have their voter ID law approved, said in a court filing last month that “communications between members of the state legislature, communications between state legislators and their staff, and communications between state legislators and their constituents” should be protected by legislative privilege. The state also tried to prevent officials with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from deposing legislators who supported the voter ID legislation known as SB 14.

Texas: Cheating rarely seen at polls in Texas | San Antonio Express-News

Allegations of voter fraud fueled the successful push for a controversial voter ID law in Texas last year, making a picture ID necessary to vote despite scant evidence of actual cheating at the polls. Fewer than five “illegal voting” complaints involving voter impersonations were filed with the Texas Attorney General's Office from the 2008 and 2010 general elections in which more than 13 million voters participated. The Department of Justice has deemed the law in violation of the Voting Rights Act, finding that it would disproportionately affect minorities, who are less likely to have a photo ID.

Texas: Federal judges want quick decision on legality of Texas voter ID law | Chron.com

A federal three-judge panel in Washington is pushing the Justice Department and Texas lawyers to work overtime to reach a quick decision on the legality of the state’s controversial voter photo ID law. The judges made it clear they want a decision in time for Texas to be able to implement its law — provided it passes legal muster — by the November general election. “It’s a big election year. We need to get it done,” District Judge Rosemary Collyer told federal and state lawyers in a telephone conference call. The judges have conducted recent conference calls with lawyers in an open courtroom, allowing media representatives to listen to the discussions as all sides haggle over timelines of depositions and discovery. Reaching a quick decision will not be easy.

Texas: State tries to keep legislators from giving depositions on Texas voter ID | Statesman.com

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott this week asked a federal court in Washington to prevent 12 state lawmakers from giving depositions in the state's voter identification case. The U.S. Department of Justice, which is facing off against Abbott's office in a case to allow Texas' voter ID law to go into effect, has asked to depose — or question under oath — the author of the voter ID bill, Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay; its House sponsor, Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Spring; and other lawmakers. Texas' voter ID law, which passed last spring, would require a voter to present a valid form of government-issued photo identification — such as a Texas driver's license, Department of Public Safety-issued ID card, military card, passport, citizenship certificate or Texas concealed gun license — before casting a ballot.

Texas: Redistricting wrangle hits Romney and Texas Republicans | Yahoo! News

Texas should be playing a role in Republican politics this year as big as, well, Texas. The fast-growing state - the most populous by far in the Republican column - has four new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, a big U.S. Senate race and more than a 10th of the delegates who will choose the party's presidential nominee. But a racially tinged dispute over redrawing its congressional districts has delayed the Texas primary by almost three months, complicated the U.S. Senate and House contests and altered the race for the White House. A San Antonio court pushed Texas' primary back to May 29 from March 6 after complaints that a new electoral map drawn by Republicans violated the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of blacks and Latinos. Three of Texas' four new U.S. House seats were created in areas dominated by whites, even though Hispanics and blacks accounted for 90 percent of Texas' population growth since 2000.

Texas: Voter ID: ‘good’ elections or a mugging? | mySA.com

Gov. Rick Perry defended the state’s controversial Voter ID law Friday during on a Fox news interview when he complained about interference from the federal government. The Justice Department on Monday rejected the state’s Voter ID law because state officials failed to demonstrate the election changes would not make it harder for minorities to vote. Because of historic discrimination against minority voters, federal law requires Texas to prove its case before making any election changes. Texas is suing to overturn the 1965 law. “Here we are in 2012 and the idea that somehow or another a southern state, Texas in particular, a state that is a majority minority in our public schools now, is somehow or another being discriminatory toward minorities, I think, is a vestige of fear tactics that have been used through the years, and frankly, don’t hold water anymore,” Perry said in the interview. “This is not a Democratic or Republican issue,” the governor added. … The vote to pass the bill into law, however, reflected a strong partisan perspective.

Texas: State Attorney General Seeking to Challenge Voting Rights Act | ABC News

Texas on Wednesday asked a federal panel weighing its photo ID requirement for voters to allow its attorneys to challenge the constitutionality of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, taking a direct shot at the statue that has blocked the state from enforcing tightened voter requirements. In a filing to a three-judge panel in Washington, Texas asked to submit a petition charging that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act "exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and conflicts with Article IV of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment." As a state with a history of voter discrimination, Texas is required under that section of the Voting Rights Act to get advance approval of voting changes from either the Justice Department or the U.S. District Court in Washington. The provision dates from 1965, but was upheld in 2006 after Congress found that discrimination still exists in the areas where it was historically a problem.

Texas: Voting Rights Act is attacked | San Antonio Express-News

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has opened a new front in the state's war with the federal government over election law, directly challenging the constitutionality of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. The new argument was voiced Wednesday in a lawsuit that asks a federal court in Washington, D.C., to approve Texas' controversial Voter ID law, which the U.S. Department of Justice blocked Monday citing concerns that up to a million eligible voters could be harmed. The lawsuit challenges a requirement for states with a history of discriminating against minority voters, including Texas, to submit proposed election law changes to the federal government for approval. Either the Justice Department or a federal court must determine the changes will not disenfranchise minority voters before they can take effect, a process known as preclearance.

Texas: Justice Department Blocks Texas Law on Photo ID for Voting | NYTimes.com

The Justice Department’s civil rights division on Monday blocked Texas from enforcing a new law requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls, contending that the law would disproportionately suppress turnout among eligible Hispanic voters. The decision, which follows a similar move in December blocking a law in South Carolina, brought the Obama administration deeper into the politically and racially charged fight over a wave of new voting restrictions, enacted largely by Republicans in the name of combating voter fraud.

Texas: Voter ID Law Discriminates Against Latinos, Justice Department Says | Fox News

A controversial law requiring Texas voters to show a photo ID at the polls remains unenforceable because it discriminates against Latinos, the Department of Justice said Monday. In a letter to the Office of the Texas Secretary of State, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said registered Latino voters are almost twice as likely as non-Latinos not to have a photo identification. Somewhere between 6.3 and 10.8 percent of registered Latino voters in Texas do not have a state-issued photo ID.

Texas: Confusion reigns in Texas elections calendar | Star Telegram

Confusion is the constant in Texas' presidential primary election this year. Delayed more than two months because of political wrangling, the primary is now scheduled to be the second major election day in May, calling voters back to the polls just more than two weeks after they cast ballots in city and school district elections. New voter registration cards - which will tell residents whether there's been any changes in their precincts and local, state and federal political districts - likely won't be sent out until late April, after the overseas and military ballots are sent out. "I'm sure there will be some confusion," Tarrant County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn said. "We're having these leapfrog elections, and runoffs, and in some cases polling places will be different, and some early voting sites will be different. "There's so many things that are changing, moving."

Texas: Contested voter ID law could shave voter rolls | Houston Chronicle

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 state government-issued photo IDs to match their voter registration cards, according to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle. Texas secretary of state officials did not find matching 2012 driver's licenses or state-issued photo IDs for 2.4 million of the state's 12.8 million registered voters, though all but about 800,000 of those voters supplied a valid identification number when they first registered to vote. The findings come from documents submitted by the state to the U.S. Department of Justice as part of an ongoing review of the new voter ID law.

Texas: Court inquires about Austin TX congressional district | statesman.com

A federal court in the nation's capital requested more information Tuesday about a Central Texas congressional district, a move that could delay the primary elections in Texas once again. In the ongoing redistricting saga, the Washington, D.C., court asked for briefs by March 13 on Congressional District 25, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. The three-judge panel seems to be struggling with a contentious issue that has divided plaintiffs' groups suing the state in a San Antonio federal court over redistricting maps drawn by the Legislature last year; the plaintiffs say the maps are racially and ethnically discriminatory. At issue is whether District 25 is a minority district protected by the Voting Rights Act or a white district that would not require protection. Some plaintiffs in the redistricting fight argue that Hispanics and blacks join with whites in District 25 to elect a candidate of their choice, while other plaintiffs say it is a majority Anglo district that has long elected Doggett, a white Democrat.

Texas: Minority groups: New voting maps ‘total devastation for the Latino community across Texas’ | Associated Press

Disheartened and angry over the latest Texas voting maps handed down by federal judges, Democrats and minority rights groups looked Wednesday to a separate court in Washington as their last likely hope of cutting deeper into a solid Republican majority in the 2012 elections. The GOP stands poised to hardly lose any power under the latest Texas congressional and state House maps delivered this week by a San Antonio federal court, which confronted how the state's political boundaries should be changed with more than 3 million new Hispanic residents.

Texas: Redistricting impasse delays Texas primary until May 29, at the earliest | Houston Chronicle

Texas’ primary elections won’t take place until at least May 29 because of the ongoing battle over the state’s redistricting maps, a San Antonio federal court announced Wednesday. “It appears based on all the things that are going on here that it is extremely unlikely there will be a primary in April or for that matter before May 29,” said Judge Jerry Smith. “Based on the discussion we just had with the political parties, we asked that they start working on an election schedule.” The delegation of county election officials who came to the second day of the redistricting hearing was elated by the decision. Their leader, Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen, told the court Tuesday that delays had made it impossible to hold the primary in April. “This feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off our shoulders,”Callanen said after Smith spoke from the bench. “This is a win.”

Texas: Primary Could Face New Delay Over Redistricting Lawsuit | NYTimes.com

A federal three-judge panel here is considering delaying the Texas primary election for the second time in two months, posing a number of logistical and political challenges for Republican and Democratic leaders and candidates as a redistricting dispute between the state and several minority groups remains for the most part at a stalemate. The primary had been scheduled for April 3, but at the end of a two-day hearing on Wednesday, Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that a primary in April was “extremely unlikely” and that the new date would probably be May 29. But the judges stopped short of selecting a new date, asking lawyers with the state Democratic and Republican Parties to outline new candidate filing periods and other deadlines using May 29 as a tentative date.

Texas: April primaries ruled out in Texas | Star Telegram

The chances of Texas voters having much influence in the Republican presidential race faded Tuesday after a panel of federal judges acknowledged that the state's deep divisions over political maps had made it nearly impossible to preserve an April primary. Texas was originally scheduled to be a part of next month's slate of Super Tuesday primaries, but the redistricting clash forced the state to reschedule its contest to April 3. With that date now all but dead, too, elections workers who squeezed into a packed San Antonio courtroom Tuesday advocated a new date of May 22, which could be long after Republicans settle on a nominee to face President Barack Obama.

Texas: Partial deal reached in Texas redistricting case | The Statesman

The Texas attorney general's office and a coalition of minority groups announced a deal Wednesday on one of three disputed electoral maps, a step forward in resolving when Texas will hold its primary elections. Texas holds the country's second largest number of delegates in the presidential race, but is unlikely to influence the Republican nomination because a dispute over the state's political maps has pushed back the primary, originally scheduled to be part of next month's Super Tuesday contests. Election administrators told a three-judge panel that the soonest reasonable date now is May 22.

Texas: Redistricting battle returns to court Tuesday as judges may decide fate of April primary | The Washington Post

If Texas can still hold an April primary, now is when the state likely finds out. A federal court in San Antonio that has spent months refereeing a clash over bitterly disputed Texas voting maps reconvenes again Tuesday, and Republicans and Democrats are hoping to learn when the state’s primary elections will finally take place. April 3 is the currently scheduled date, but that no longer seems realistic since not even temporary maps for the 2012 elections in Texas are settled. Another weekend of court-ordered negotiations between the state and minority rights groups, meanwhile, ended with little to show for it.

Texas: Voting rights group files suit over Texas registration practices | Houston Chronicle

The nonprofit Voting for America filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging Texas voter rolls have been actively suppressed by excessive restrictions on volunteers who conduct registration drives, aggressive purges of county voter rolls and poll workers who improperly requested identification from voters. "A developing body of state practices and provisions targeted at voter registration activities is endangering the rights of many Texas voters," the lawsuit alleges. The group, affiliated with the Washington D.C.-based Project Vote, runs nonpartisan voter registration drives nationwide and has previously mounted legal challenges to state voter registration procedures in Missouri, Ohio, Indiana and New Mexico, among other states.

Texas: Redistricting Judges to Lawyers: Get to Work | The Texas Tribune

With hearings on redistricting scheduled for next week and deadlines for April primaries pending, a panel of federal judges told lawyers Friday afternoon to redouble their efforts to reach a quick settlement on interim political maps for the state's congressional and legislative elections. That's not the first time they've told the lawyers to talk, but negotiations stalled this week when the state and some plaintiffs reached an agreement that several other plaintiffs didn't like. In their order this afternoon, the judges said that proposal is still very much alive. They said they want to set an April primary. And they want negotiations to resume "with all due effort" before the hearings that begin next Tuesday.

Texas: Attorney General and key minority groups reach deal on Texas Redistricting | San Antonio Express-News

A federal court overseeing a Texas redistricting lawsuit rejected a proposal presented Monday, saying the plan did not have the support of all parties involved, a requirement outlined in an earlier order. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday announced that a compromise plan had been reached, saying that one coalition of Latino groups had signed off on redistricting maps for the 2012 election that would give Hispanics two of the state's four new congressional districts. But the Texas Democratic Party and other groups suing the state rejected the proposal, arguing that the deal still shortchanges minority voters.

Texas: Primary election schedule nowhere in sight | Longview News-Journal

The parties to the contested redistricting litigation pending in the San Antonio Federal District Court, have until February 6, 2012 to reach a settlement, if they want to hold primary elections in Texas on April 3, 2012. The date of the primary had already been moved from March 6 to April 3rd. It is that date that now appears to be in jeopardy should there be no agreement by February 6. And, of course, no voter registration cards will be sent until all lines are drawn and approved. Panola County voter registrar Cheyenne Lampley stated, “People have been calling asking why they haven’t received their voter registration card, but all I can tell them is that the legislature must finish its job and draw correct redistricting lines before anyone gets a voter card.”

Texas: Redistricting settlement on verge of collapse, delaying primaries | The Hill

A once-promising settlement for Texas's convoluted redistricting battle has stalled, leaving the process once again far from an agreement and likely forcing Texas to move its primary back for a second time. Texas's redistricting maps are tied up in federal court and are unlikely to stand as they were originally drawn. Because of that a San Antonio court drew an interim map, but that was struck down by the Supreme Court. No one is sure how the process will play out, but all sides agree that a settlement that looked possible early this week is all but dead in the water, making it likely that Texas will have to push its primary back from April.