AZ ISN’T ONLY STATE FACING REDISTRICTING DILEMMA
posted by Melanie Huonker
With the legal battle between Gov. Jan Brewer and Independent Redistricting Commission Chairwoman Colleen Mathis still fresh on everyone's mind, another state is in the midst of a court battle deciding the fate of the redistricting process -- Texas.
Just as in Arizona, Republicans in Texas dominate the Legislature. According to an editorial in the Star-Telegram newspaper, Texas Republicans were determined to maximize the number of GOP candidates in office.
That’s because Texas added more than 4 million residents from 2000 to 2010, adding four seats in Congress. The majority of those are Hispanic voters, who tend to vote Democratic. In another Star-Telegram editorial, the newspaper said, “Republican lawmakers opted to accommodate party interests rather than include more districts with Hispanic majorities.”
Earlier this month, a federal court in Washington, D.C., ordered a three-judge panel in San Antonio to redraw both the congressional and legislative maps of Texas.
The matter will now be sorted out in court, a familiar scenario to Arizona lawmakers after the removal and reinstatement of Mathis.
All this has some in Texas reiterating the need for an independent group, just like the AZ IRC, to draw redistricting lines.
From the Nov. 9 edition: “The Star-Telegram Editorial Board has long supported the creation of an independent, nonpartisan body that could bring more objectivity to the process of revising congressional voting districts.”
This summer, Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R- San Antonio, helped pass a bill in the Texas Senate during special session to create a nine-member redistricting commission. However, the bill did not stand in the Texas House, thwarting Wentworth’s continuous efforts to change redistricting methods.
Will Brewer call a special session of her own in order to dismantle the 2001 voter-approved legislation that created the IRC? Some GOP state senators say they hope so, and in fact a few say she promised to do so. She says she didn't promise.
This could potentially put redistricting back in legislators' hands and drive partisan politics, putting Arizona back from where Texas lawmakers are trying to move away.
