Judge: Texas primaries likely to be May 29

statesman.com ^ | Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 03:15 PM | Tim Eaton

[onyx]

SAN ANTONIO:

In the final moments of Tuesday’s redistricting hearing, a three-judge panel said Texas’ primary elections likely will not occur before May 29.

While Judge Jerry Smith, one of three federal judges in the San Antonio redistricting case, said the likely date of the primaries will be May 29, he did not commit to the date. Smith, however, told the state’s two major political political parties that they should prepare proposals based on that assumption

The Republican Party of Texas and the Texas Democratic Party will prepare a schedule in the coming days that will include dates for early voting and runoffs. They also will determine when to reopen the filing period for candidates looking to run for office.

Candidate filing was suspended earlier this year as the legal battle over Texas’ congressional and legislative districts dragged on.

Lawyers for the state and attorneys representing clients that are suing the state over the Legislature’s redistricting maps also managed to reach an agreement on an interim state Senate map to be used in the 2012 elections. They still have not agreed upon a state House maps or a congressional map.

Congressional District 25, which is currently occupied by Doggett, D-Austin, remained a major sticking point.

[berdie]

“Our county is large..”

My county is small. I called the County Clerk’s office, even though I knew the reason for the delay in new cards being issured, just wanted to see what the response was.

The poor lady dissolved into babbling...”We have to get the cards printed, we have to get overseas ballots mailed, candidate filing deadlines..and on and on.”

I felt sorry for her.

I won’t be surprised is we are pushed to June. Grrrrr!!!

[luvie]

No joke. I think we’ve been set up because we have been influential in elections in the past.

GRRRRRRR!

[El Gato]

Texas deserves to be heard from before May 29, 2012!

Even if it is April 3, it'll likely be over by then. But if it's not by April 3, it probably won't be by May 29th either.

I am still ticked off at having no voice in the '08 primary, except a protest vote. If Texas had an earlier primary, say right after or the same week as Florida, McStain would likely not have been the nominee.

[luvie]

A nice DU word. Hmmm......

[lonestar]

It’s outrageous and Newt Gingrich is right that the Courts are over stepping their bounds.

I don't think Newt has a monopoly on that sentiment!

[luvie]

Texas has been castrated by the left. pure and simple (if crude)

[corbe]

Us Texans were resigned to “Operation Chaos” by the time the Primaries rolled around in 2008. I did not think the Texas primary in 2012 would matter anyway. It seems to be decided before we have a say and especially this year.
we will be accused of wearing white sheets but in actuality it is the whackos in the black robes that have made a bad situation worse, again!.

[Proud_texan]

Just reflects my current disappointment with the party elites after having worked for just about everybody since John Tower. Seems to me that they’re simply giving us regurgitated dim policy. Had no idea it was a DU term.

[luvie]

I certainly share your disappointment....and I DO feel like “puking”!

I have never seen such a screwed up election cycle in my life and I can’t help but be a conspiracy theorist where anything concerning the re-election of the fake president is concerned.

[luvie]

PS...sorry to have accused you of such a thing. :(

[boxlunch]

These judges are a stinkin’ oligarchy!!!!!!!

[Theodore R.]

And in my experience there's no worse blood than that between those two groups.

Isn't that hearsay? Look at the "brown" counties: strongly Obama!

[af_vet_rr]

Ah, the complications of a Balkinized election map.

Texas has already been a minority-majority state for several years, with whites making up around 45% of the state, and Hispanics less than 8 points away, probably passing them up by 2020. You just think it's balkinized now, just wait until Hispanics pass up whites and become the majority. You'll see some court battles over districts then.

[af_vet_rr]

Yes, we’re getting screwed. We were already screwed but now we’re getting screwed worse.

I don't think of it as that, I think of it as Texas could make a huge stand to stop Romney.

Things will be a lot more clear by the end of May, and this might just motivate a lot of Conservatives to get off their butts and vote in the primary. If Texas had its primaries next week, there might not be all that many people voting in the primary.

I wish Texas held its primary in January, but this still gives it a chance to get a lot of the spotlight on its own and not be lost among the shuffle.

[BuckeyeTexan]

I could just ... well, I don’t know what I could. Ugh.

[ngat]

“Wonder if “they” are going to move the convention date to later?”

When you wonder about what “they” are going to decide, are you referring to the political parties in general, or to Orlando Garcia and Xavier Rodriguez, with Jerry Smith dissenting?

[Proud_texan]

NP. I went to DU once but then I had to take a shower.

[Proud_texan]

You’re right about the vote and it could be my experience was just wrong but my guess is that they were just voting against the white guy.

[Proud_texan]

I found the article from last August that caused my confusion:

New contenders join Congressional District 25 race

At that point Doggett was going to jump to CD-33 and Rep. Joaquin Castro was going to run against him in the primary. Because CD-33 as originally drawn was more San Antonio than Austin it looked like Castro had a good shot.

The dim Michael Williams was going to run in CD-25 against a whole slew of other guys.

But I guess all of this is out the window.br

[Arrowhead1952]

Lord Dog Nuts district is the sticking point. He made statements about possibly losing and is ticked off. He has been in office far too long and is the poster child for term limits.