After more than six months of trials, delays, allegations, and political infighting, the 2012 Texas redistricting process seems to have reached a resolution – at least for the moment. Yet when the San Antonio federal court finally released its interim House, Senate, and Congressional maps on Feb. 28, anyone who thought it would then be primary business as usual was delusional. The extended process has sparked an explosion of unintended consequences: Election officials are struggling to redraw precincts and find the staff to run them; the parties are panicking about organizing conventions; and candidates are wondering how they'll squeeze a year's worth of primary and general election campaigning into less than eight months. And should a D.C. federal court charged with reviewing the maps for compliance with the Voting Rights Act reject them, all those election plans could go right back to the drawing board. For the folks on the political ground, anger and stress have collapsed into weary, punch-drunk acceptance that Texas elections are still in uncharted and treacherous waters.
In the midst of all this collateral damage of the redistricting wars, it's hard to see any room for optimism – unless you happen to be Sen. Jeff Wentworth. The San Antonio Republican has spent years warning that the current districting system is critically broken. Session after session, he has introduced bills to take redistricting out of the Legislature and move it to a nonpartisan, independent redistricting commission, and session after session his bills have failed. Finally, he believes, the tide may be turning. A recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll showed only 27% of respondents support keeping the current system, while 42% favored dumping it for a California-style independent redistricting commission. "Clearly the pain and the chaos that we're going through this year is having some effect in people's attitudes and opinions about this issue," Wentworth said. "That's what gives me considerable hope."
Use the above link to read Richard Whittaker's article on the Austin Chronicle website.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us 
No comments:
Post a Comment