Galveston Voting Rights Case Could Cost Texas Democrats Seats

Texas Scorecard ^ | 5/15/24 | Erin Anderson

[CFW]

A voting rights lawsuit that could cost Texas Democrats seats across all levels of government received a hearing Tuesday by the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, known as the most conservative federal appellate court in the country.

The Galveston County redistricting case is challenging how the appellate court has previously interpreted the Voting Rights Act, which was passed to protect individual minority groups but has been “twisted” for political advantage.

At issue is whether Section 2 of the law requires the county to create a majority-minority district by grouping a “coalition” of black and Hispanic voters.

Neither blacks nor Hispanics are a large enough group in Galveston County to create a majority district.

[snip]

“The Voting Rights Act was meant to right wrongs. It wasn’t meant to subsidize political parties with legislative seats. That’s what this case is about—the real meaning of the Voting Rights Act, or, how it has been twisted by coalition districts,” said J. Christian Adams, President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, representing Galveston County in the case.

A win by Galveston County would be a blow to Texas Democrats.

[CFW]

This is an interesting case to keep an eye on.

[Deplorable American1776]

Interesting...going to keep an eye out on it.

[Maris Crane]

I LOVE...J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS.

WATTA GREAT GUY.

[Elsie]

Neither blacks nor Hispanics are a large enough group in Galveston County to create a majority district.

Race 
 	
White alone, percent	                                          79.9%
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent	                  55.0% 
Hispanic or Latino, percent(b)	                                  26.8%
Black or African American alone, percent(a)	                  13.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent(a)                0.8%
Asian alone, percent(a)	                                           3.7%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent(a)	   0.1%
Two or More Races, percent	                                   2.2%

[Lurker]

“The Voting Rights Act was meant to right wrongs. It wasn’t meant to subsidize political parties with legislative seats.”

But that is what it’s become.

L

[nopardons]

BTTT

[Svartalfiar]

We just need to start passing laws that require any voting district to be as tight and compact as possible, with sizes weighted equally between citizen population and land area.

Gerrymandering should be near impossible by the simple method of redistricting. Almost no factors that can be modified to do so.

[Deplorable American1776]

Gerrymandering happens in all the states. Connecticut’s First district looks like it is chomping the fifth district’s towns. If they took those towns from the fifth, the fifth would be a red district, not a purplish blue. The first doesn’t need those towns - Democratic cities, but some do have Republican mayors ..

[JoJo354]

I’ve always wondered why we can’t just stick to the counties make up the districts? One county is District 1, county 2 is District 2 and so on. Our country has changed a lot since these “laws” were put into place. I don’t believe there is a big group of people trying to stop POC from voting. Many laws are outdated. And to me, gerrymandering and redistricting every election is basically election engineering. It seems to mostly favor the Democrats.

[Svartalfiar]

Well yes, but my point was to eliminate it as much a possible.

Even with compact districts, you can still shift them around somewhat to affect the results, just not nearly as much as when you can create labyrinths of districts that encompass residents a hundred miles apart connected by a twenty foot strip along the highway for 100 miles