I am not an expert on the Voting Rights Act and how it works today in actual practice, as opposed to theory. It simply hasn't been an issue I've had to deal with.
I picked up from the Texas Tribune article when posted originally that the federal DOJ may have to clear changes in voting rules. Does this apply only to state law or also to political party delegate selection processes? In other words, does Barack Obama’s attorney general get a veto right over decisions of the Texas Republican Party on how their presidential preferences will be expressed?
If it does, a decision by Herman Cain to publicly attack Mitt Romney and declare that he supports a change in the Texas rules could put President Obama and AG Holder into a very difficult position if they decide to interfere.
I've said before that something very big is going to be necessary to break Mitt Romney's momentum at this late date. It may already be impossible. But some sort of alliance between Gingrich and Romney, plus the support of Cain, Perry and Bachmann, could make very clear that basically the entire Republican presidential field opposes Mitt Romney despite the differences they all have with each other. That could send a very, very powerful message that the base is revolting against Mitt Romney, and Texas could be the perfect state to make that stand against the Republican elites.
I haven’t been aware of this but it sure looks interesting...will read the rest of the thread to see what’s happening....hummm-mmmm..very interesting indeed.
Thanks for the ping darrell...very much.
cw
Apparently the Voting Rights Act of 1965 applies to all political processes. After a recent county Republican club meeting my SREC Committeeman was talking about the problems of coming up with new rules for conducting the county/senate district conventions. Normally they would be held after the primary and precinct conventions and open only to people who voted in the Republican primary. Due to the DOJ lawsuits against the state of Texas, the primary will be held after the county/senate district conventions. The SREC decided to cancel the precinct conventions and open up the county convention to anyone who would sign an oath stating that he or she is a Republican and would vote in the Republican primary in May. All these changes forced on the Texas Republican party due to the DOJ, had to be approved by the DOJ.