Texas Redistricting is Here and It's Going As Bad As We Imagined

Thanks to the League of Women Voters for staying on top of all voting issues, including redistricting.

If you haven't heard, we are in the midst of the redistricting process in Texas. It's the first in about five decades that Texas is able to do so without being subject to review by the United States Department of Justice or a federal court. The first drafts of districts were recently released and it is already going as bad as you might have imagined. Even though 95% of the growth in Texas population has been people of color, the proposals reduce the number of districts where people of color are the majority, while increasing the number where whites are the majority. The redistricting proposal also shrinks the number of congressional districts won by Biden from 14 to 13 while increasing the number of districts won Trump from 22 to 25 and combines the congressional districts of Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee and Congressman Al Green, two African American members of Congress that represent the Houston area.

While the redistricting process has thus far been outrageous, it is not very surprising, as the Texas Legislature has a very long history of political shenanigans at the expense of the rights of minority voters. Unfortunately though, this is the first time in decades that the federal government has not had oversight of the process. Here are my reflections on the current redistricting debacle.

How We Got Here

The current redistricting debacle became all but inevitable when the United States Supreme Court decided to effectively invalidate the preclearance requirement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County v. Holder case in 2013 (see my ABA article where I discuss this case in more depth). Within hours of that decision, then Attorney General, Greg Abbott, announced that it planned to reinstate its voter ID law, which had already been found to have a discriminatory impact on its voters of color, thus showing many why Texas was subject to federal review of its voting measures to begin with. Now that Texas' redistricting process is no longer subject to preclearance, it has clearly emboldened the Texas Legislatures to draw maps that would have likely been a waste of time when it was subject to federal review, and the recourse for maps that are in violation of the Voting Rights Act will only be able to be addressed in litigation after the maps are in effect.

A Need to Remove Partisan Groups from the Process

This latest round of redistricting makes it painfully obvious why redistricting should not be done by partisan groups. As many have already pointed out, partisan redistricting committees allows elected officials to select their voters, instead of the other way around. Some states like California, Colorado, and Michigan already use nonpartisan committees to draw their maps and it's time for Texas, along with the other states that use partisan redistricting measures, to do the same.

What You Can Do Right Now

While it is clear that the Texas Legislature is hellbent on redrawing the political maps that benefit themselves at the expense of the majority of their minority residents, there are some things you can do to combat it.

-Reach Out to Congress to Pass the Pending John Lewis Voter Rights Act

With states like Texas and Georgia showing that they have no intention on doing right by their voters of color, it will likely take another act of Congress to make sure that they have no other choice. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which is currently pending in Congress, would help address the issues we see during the redistricting process, along with helping in a number of other areas like combating dark money. The House of Representatives has already passed their version of the bill and it is currently pending in the US Senate. Many Texas House Democrats have already put pressure on the US Senate to pass this bill, when they fled the state and went to DC to try to prevent a quorum from taking place during a recent special session.

Unfortunately, Congress seems to be struggling to just keep the lights on for the federal government, as they recently narrowly avoided a government shutdown and still need to address the debt ceiling sometime soon before going into default. However, as with everything else, the squeaky wheel will get the grease. As such, there is a need for continual pressure on the US Senate, especially Joe Manchin, to pass the bill.

-Speak Out to the Special Committees on Redistricting

While I don't have much faith in Texas GOP committee members in hearing anything that won't keep them in power, I do believe in people exercising every option available to them. That being said, the link to the Senate Committee can be found here and the link to the House Committee can be found here. Feel free to explain to these committees just how outrageous their obvious grab for power is and why you oppose it. I decided to publish what I wrote to the committees at the following blog post.

-Contact Your Local Officials About Your Local Redistricting Efforts

It should be noted that the redistricting process is not only for Congressional and State Legislature maps, but the local ones as well. As such, I would advise you to participate in the redistricting process taking place on the county and other local municipalities to ensure that your voice is being considered as a part of the process. This past Wednesday, I participated virtually in the local hearing of the county precinct, where I live and represent on my local county school board (you can see the video here and I begin speaking around 51:40 mark). Thankfully, the majority in this group is Democratic and not likely to blatantly discriminate against minority voters as their state counterparts are currently engaging in (doing so would be to their own detriment).

Conclusion

In conclusion, there appears to be an uphill fight for the Texas Democrats with regards to the redistricting process. Hopefully, Congress will take action sometime soon, but in the meantime, be sure to contact your US Senator, the Texas Legislature, and your local representatives to help better ensure that your voting rights are not infringed in this messy process.