It’s a novel approach to voter contact, I’ll give them that. Republicans seem to be conducting voter persuasion efforts exclusively in federal courts:
A federal court on Tuesday threw out Texas’s redistricting plans, saying the maps drawn by the Republican-led legislature undermined the political clout of minorities who are responsible for the state’s population growth.
The three-judge special panel in Washington said Texas could not prove that plans for the state’s congressional districts and both houses of the legislature were not drawn without intentional discrimination against the state’s burgeoning Latino population. In addition, it said new district lines removed the “economic guts” from congressional districts now held by African-Americans.
“The only explanation Texas offers for this pattern is ‘coincidence,’ ” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas B. Griffith. “But if this was coincidence, it was a striking one indeed.”
The decision is not likely to change the districts before the November elections; the political parties have already chosen their nominees under interim plans drawn by a different federal court.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) said the state would appeal Tuesday’s ruling to the Supreme Court.
Texas is the largest state covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires federal approval of any voting changes in states with a history of discrimination. A separate three-judge panel is expected to rule this week on a new Texas law that requires voters to provide ID. The Obama administration opposed both laws because it says they endanger minority voting rights.
Some states and jurisdictions covered by Section 5 have argued that it is no longer necessary and have asked the Supreme Court to strike it down. The justices will consider next month whether to review the issue.
It’s likely that Democrats and groups who say Section 5 is still a necessary protection will use Tuesday’s decision to buttress their arguments.
The minority and voting rights organizations that opposed the redistricting plans called the ruling a clear victory.
“The court’s decision is a damning indictment of (Gov.) Rick Perry and other Texas Republican leaders who, in a cynical attempt to hold on to power, engaged in intentional discrimination against Texas Latino and African-American voters,” said Lone Star Project Director Matt Angle.
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D), chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said that the “face of Texas is changing by the day” and that the redistricting plans approved by the legislature in 2011 reflected “a very old and different Texas.”
Griffith was joined in the decision by U.S. District Judges Rosemary M. Collyer and Beryl A. Howell. Griffith and Collyer were nominated by President George W. Bush; Howell is an Obama nominee.
The judges noted that Texas received four additional congressional districts after the 2010 census because the state’s population grew by about 4.3 million people. Latinos accounted for 65 percent of the increase, blacks 13.4 percent and Asian-Americans 10.1 percent.
Nothing says “welcome to the Grand Old Party” like intentionally undermining the political clout of Latinos, the group that accounts for 65% of the population growth that gave Texas four new congressional districts. Gives them a warm and fuzzy feeling, I’m sure, meeting with Texas Republican leaders in a courtroom, where they’re on opposite sides. Is this a realistic long-term strategy for Republicans? A litigation-fueled attempt to return to “a very old and different Texas”?
Redacted
How about this for Latino outreach (be sure to check the video):
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2012/08/hbc-90008805
An unscripted moment happened late this afternoon that caused the assembled mainstream media to turn away in the hope that it would disappear. As I was standing in line for a sandwich next to an Italian and a Puerto Rican correspondent, a controversy was unfolding on the floor. The RonPaulites, whose furious devotion to a single idea have made them the Ellen Jamesians of the right, were protesting a decision by RNC officials not to seat members of the Maine delegation, which was split between Paul and Romney supporters following rule changes made just prior to the convention. There were energetic shouts of “Aye!” and “Nay!” as a Puerto Rican party functionary—Zoraida Fonalledas, the chairwoman of the Committee on Permanent Organization—took her turn at the main-stage lectern. As she began speaking in her accented English, some in the crowd started shouting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”
amk
Wonder how the whites in Texas themselves feel about these rethuglican blatant voter suppression tactics.
Brachiator
Modern day equivalent of the “three fifths” rule.
BGinCHI
The GOP is a White Supremacy Party.
What are the indications to the contrary? Jeb Bush lecturing his party members that they have to be smarter (stealthier) about the way they conduct themselves?
Kay
@BGinCHI:
They’re so fucking lazy. Rather than work to win these voters, they just draw them out of existence.
The conservative work ethic is over-rated. Vastly.
Zifnab
@amk: Whites generally, or white Democrats? Because the white Republicans are totally cool with it, I can tell you right now. They’ll start out denying any suppression is taking place, then turn around and shrug when presented with hard evidence, because they honestly don’t give a shit.
This is, and always has been, all about winning.
eric
@Kay: it is not lazy….here is the logic behind the GOP….the bigger your tent and the more constituencies you have to accommodate, the more you have to compromise. However, there is a very sizable segment that will never allow compromise and they cannot win (in their collective minds, at least) without that segment voting en masse. So, you get a purified party with no compromises and no “special interests” because the interests are uniformly held. There are no GOP coalitions because coalitions are impure. Coalitions are the leprosy of 21st century GOP politics.
D0n Camillo
These guys are like the business MBAs who can’t think past the present quarter and run a company into the ground long term. Sure their gerrymandering and voter ID shenigans might give them an edge in this election cycle, but it’s going to poison the Republican brand in the not too distant future. Those college students who got disenfranchised will be graduates soon. The African American voters who couldn’t get their proper IDs in time for November will have them for the next election cycle. Texas Latinos are unlikely to forget this blatant attempt to water down their votes and influence.
Mino
I guess they won’t mind when turn about is fair play?
The Republic of Stupidity
I think we have an answer to that question, and the answer is…
I visited Austin, for the 1st time, a couple of years ago and I was flabbergasted to see the monument outside the capitol building in honor of the valiant Texans who fought and died in the War of Northern Aggression, as they like to call it…
Shite shite shite… it’s not just an casual attitude… it’s officially sanctioned and embedded in the state’s identity…
Bobby Thomson
The Afrikaners were able to hold onto power for quite some time.
BGinCHI
@Kay: Did you watch the Kasich speech last night?
I predicted you would have had less unbroken china after it. Well?
I had to mute it. I hate that guy.
quannlace
Meanwhile, over at Fox ‘News’
Can somebody explain what exactly that means, “pull a Ronald Reagan?”
(And yes, I know what the naughty answer would be.)
amk
@Zifnab: At least a minor faction of white repubs must see how these tactics would backfire on them one day.
? Martin
Let’s not overlook this gem (TPM):
No, no voter suppression at work here. Nosiree. I’m just coincidentally protecting the electorate from never documented voter fraud while I express my hatred of minorities.
The Moar You Know
Just a desperate attempt to squeeze ten more years of grift out of the system before their schtick reaches its inevitable conclusion.
@amk: My experience with whites in Texas leads me to believe that most of them are, put mildly, “totally on board”.
Elizabelle
@Kay:
Where they excel is gaming the system.
And then projecting that behavior onto others.
So much projection last night, and falsehoods rather than “hard truths.”
eric
@quannlace: get blown by Nancy?
BGinCHI
@eric: Sell arms illegally to Iran to finance an illegal war in Central America?
TooManyJens
In good news on the voting rights front (hey, we were due for some, right?), Florida’s restrictions on voter registration drives are going to be permanently removed.
Josh G.
Once the Republicans lose Texas – and they inevitably will before too much longer, given Latino population growth – how do they ever expect to win any more Presidential elections?
eric
@BGinCHI: and forgets it all
Barry
“Is this a realistic long-term strategy for Republicans? A litigation-fueled attempt to return to “a very old and different Texas”?”
What’s this ‘long term’ thing?
Take power NOW.
Use current power to serve victory in the next election.
Repeat.
For a party which is aimed at a minority base and a teeny-tiny elite minority on the top, it works really well.
The Thin Black Duke
@D0n Camillo: Problem is, if the GOP wins in November, there won’t be no “long term”. And I wish I was exaggerating.
sal
If Repubs can keep Hispanic and other non-R voting groups (students, blacks, etc) from being able to vote, they don’t have to worry about demographic change. Maybe eventually this will come back and bite them, but if they can institutionalize it for a few years, it will become the new norm and that much harder to overturn.
It’s also likely to disillusion a significant percentage of disenfranchised voters who’ll give up on politics/civic life/voting altogether, and who then just won’t bother or care about voting.
Zifnab
@amk: One day, sure. But that day isn’t today, now is it?
Someone linked to a twitter feed #RNCPowerGrab or something like there, where Michelle Malkin and her people were collectively losing their shit over how the national convention was operating.
The tactics being employed weren’t new. Log Cabin Republicans got a taste of them in ’10. Liberal Republicans have been eating the back of the hand since ’64. But its not until the movement conservatives start eating shit that they notice the rules are bad, and even then only because they negatively affect Malkin’s crew.
These folks are not long-term planners, they’re lemmings. They only throw a fit once they find themselves over the edge of the cliff.
Zifnab
@Josh G.: If Latinos start winning in Texas, they won’t confine themselves to the Democrat’s party. It’s not like Mexico or the rest of Latin and South America have a dearth of hard-line authoritarian conservative politicians.
The difference between Texas with a Hispanic majority and the status quo is more guys with the last name “Cruz” on the ticket. But when it comes to actual policy? I wouldn’t bank on a revolution in the Lone Star State.
Cassidy
Kay, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. I’ve been an absentee voter the past 13 years while on Active Duty. Now that I’m a civilian, I’ve got my ducks in a row, updated DL, voter registration card, etc. I haven’t had a voter registration card in a long time, though. Since I’ve registered, I’ve gotten at least three with different information. The polling place is the same, my ID# is the same, and address are the same, but all the numbers saying what various districts I’m in are different. Is that grounds to deny my vote if I bring the wrong one in? Also, my wife has had the same thing happenning and we’re both registered Democrats. Is this a way to confuse and disenfranchise voters? I know that sounds paranoid, but I’m putting nothing past these fuckers anymore.
amk
@Zifnab: Amazing mindset. They would love an apartheid amurka, wouldn’t they?
maurinsky
@eric: If the rumours are true, that would be pulling a lot more than just a Ronald Reagan.
eric
@amk: or, as they would put it, the good ole days.
Linda Featheringill
Actually, the current GOP is acting like a white supremist party. A relatively nonviolent one, of course.
Felinious Wench
Rock on. This Texas liberal is enjoying the sound of Bubba Butthurt from the Republican politicians in my fair state today. They’ve been pulling this strategy for YEARS, starting with Tom The Bugman DeLay.
Want some cheese with that whine, Abbott?
trollhattan
@TooManyJens:
Hopefully it’s in time to reverse some of what’s happened to Florida registrations this cycle. (Reposting linked graph from last night.)
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/28/13534859-chart-floridas-voter-registration-collapse?lite
TooManyJens
@trollhattan: Yeah, I saw that. Terrifying. And of course, working exactly as intended.
Roger Moore
@Josh G.:
I think this is one of the inherent tensions within the Republican party. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Texans George W. Bush and Karl Rove were among the few Republicans pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. It wasn’t because they were especially friendly to Latinos but because their Texas background let them see that the party needed to broaden its base or face inevitable irrelevance. Don’t be too surprised if in the near future some Arizona Republicans start to recognize the demographic trap and try reversing course on anti-Latino bigotry.
KG
@quannlace: they honestly think that Romney can be charismatic and inspiring and create an aura of hope the way that Reagan did. They also seem to think that it’s still 1979 and that all the problems we had then are exactly the same problems we have now.
Villago Delenda Est
All Rethuglicans are vile assholes.
End of discussion.
Kay
@Cassidy:
No, it shouldn’t be a problem, because they shouldn’t be relying on the cards they sent you. What state are you in? Did they redistrict in your state?
Or do you mean “precinct” or “ward” when you say “district”? If you’re in a different precinct but same polling place, you should contact the Board of Elections and see which one of the three is actually your (new) precinct. That will matter because of “right church, wrong pew”. That’s where you enter a polling place that has more than one precinct (table). If you vote in the wrong precinct, that’s a problem. They combine precincts within polling places to save money.
For example. My polling place has been in the same church for years. My precinct was “city 7”. Then they changed it to LETTERS (A,B,C) I have no idea why. When I went in last time I said “where is (old) precinct 7?” and they directed me to “D”. I would have been in the “right church” (polling place) but “wrong pew” (precinct) had I not known that and gone to, say, “C”.
lamh35
Obama’s ground game advantage
Cassidy
@Kay: I’m in Florida, which is what got me thinking. The numbers are Congress 6, FL Senate 5, FL House 13, etc., so I’m assuming they’re stating which various races I’m voting in. That’s what’s on the card in my wallet (first one I got). My most recent one has different numbers in those spots. I was not aware of any redistricting in the last couple of months, but I could have easily missed it. My information and where I’m told to vote at has never changed.
AA+ Bonds
Gotta suck to be the party whose political future depends on wrecking the Voting Rights Act before demographic changes catch up
My guess is that they will double down on promoting ‘literacy’ tests as the reason to get rid of it, because angry white dudes love that idea
Roger Moore
@Zifnab:
True, but they also have a bunch of populists who are way to the left of the Democratic mainstream, and who are very appealing to the kind of economic migrants who make up a large fraction of the Latino immigrants. And don’t discount the long-term effect of pissing off voters. Party affiliations tend to be sticky, so the longer the Republicans stay the party of screwing Latinos the less likely they are to be able to win back their votes even if their platform would attract them otherwise.
Brachiator
@? Martin:
I also find Clemmons’ disregard for poor voters to be interesting. Some of these voters undoubtedly think that the GOP loves them.
@sal:
Don’t think so. As another poster have noted, students graduate, grow up and develop interests that they want to protect through voting. And previously disenfranchised groups are rarely as docile or complacent about having their rights violated as the GOP and others might want to believe.
Kay
@Cassidy:
Good, so it’s redistricting. I think you’re right to be so vigilant. Call the county board of elections and ask why you got three different cards.
One of the ways they “cage” voters is mail that is returned by the Postal Service as undeliverable or no such address and things like that, so that would be my worry, that they’re sending out mail looking for it to be returned. Hopefully they’re not, and they’re just notifying you that your districts have changed.
FormerSwingVoter
@Redacted: Hey, that reminds me of this little gem from the RNC:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/an-ugly-incident-in-tampa-133600.html
Felinious Wench
@amk:
Depends on the whites. Most don’t have any clue about it. White liberals (and, again, look to the cities for these) care a whole damn lot. This is the strategy that has taken away any influence we could have in the state…just split us all up into tiny parcels of people in the middle of a red district. It’s especially bad in the districts with a concentration of Latinos in one general area. There are districts that are basically a Latino neighborhood zoned with a conservative area across the city.
We’ve had no power to change it, because once the Republicans took over, they redrew the maps and rammed them through. THIS is how they’ve held onto power in this state. It’s not all Texans are conservative morons, it’s how they’ve drawn the districts. Ron Paul’s district is a great example.
We have to break their grip on the state’s voting laws and districts. This is a good beginning. Thanks, Feds.
Elizabelle
@TooManyJens:
Such good news.
Florida Republicans have stolen the summer months available for registration, but there’s still time.
And people who have been watching the conventions will be motivated to register.
AA+ Bonds
Non-whites will not vote Republican until Republicans dump the white supremacists, and considering that the youngest up-and-comers in the party are all Tea Party reconquista conspiracists . . .
This is why Jeb and others among the established are the only ones speaking out, because most Republican incumbents can’t do so without risking their seats.
Republican politicians can either challenge the Kluxers now and lose their seats next primary season, or bow to the Kluxers and lose their seats in a decade to Democrats.
Of course they will choose the second option, which gives them a longer window to prepare.
Cassidy
@Kay: Thanks. I’ll call them this week. With all the stuff Florida is trying to do it really made me wonder if they were just “making sure” that registered Democrats got their cards in the hope that the wrong ones will be brought in and then given a provisional ballot of some sort.
Dog, I hate these MFer’s for making me this paranoid.
Brachiator
@AA+ Bonds:
The easy choice is to bow to the Kluxers now and do everything they can to consolidate power. A decade is a long time off in politics. Lots of time for mischief.
amk
@TooManyJens: That’s a great news. Tweeted it.
Zenposeur
Well OF COURSE it’s just a coincidence.
And it’s a coincidence that voter ID laws disproportionately affect minorities. It’s a coincidence that minorities are more likely to be stricken from the voter rolls during purges. It’s a coincidence that early voting ends at 5pm in minority districts but 7pm in white districts. It’s a coincidence that there are never enough voting machines in the cities. And now it’s a coincidence that redistricting has disenfranchised entire minority communities.
Let’s face facts: Coincidence hates brown people.
roc
What, exactly, about the GOP establishment mindset suggests they give one fuck about the long term?
They don’t care about the country’s long term. They don’t care about the world’s long term. They don’t care about the economy’s long term. And they don’t care about *their party’s* long term. Everything they do is about winning and personal gain in the now.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
Which basically requires that they maintain control over the Supreme Court, which means they have to win the Presidency. Most of the things they’re going to try to consolidate power can be overturned in Federal Court, but only if the courts are willing to protect voting rights. There’s a good chance that one or more members of the Conservative block on the Supreme Court will be gone by 2016, and the ability to replace them will be critical.
sparrow
@Elizabelle: I read somewhere recently about the “builder” archetype (see work of Helen Fisher), which basically maps to your typical wingnut conservative authoritarian personality type. The comment I read argued that this personality type (~ 20% of the population) cannot well determine themselves what is right and wrong, and they need authority to supply it and make them feel more secure in what the rules are. Because they lack basic moral intuition, they also assume others do (this is where projection comes in). Thus so often you see the “rules for thee and not for me” underneath all they say and do. Personally I hope this type of human is being phased out of our genetic lineup…
Mnemosyne
Not surprised at all — they had a really interesting episode of The American Experience called “A Class Apart.” Short version: in Texas, Mexicans and Latinos were segregated from whites the same way that blacks were segregated in other parts of the country. It took a Supreme Court case to end that segregation.
So to hear that Texas is still trying to exclude Latinos from public life like they did before Hernandez v Texas? Not a surprise.
Scott S.
Now can we please stop cheerleading for kicking Texas out of the US? Do you really want to give the conservatives what they’ve been asking for all along?
Roy G.
Wait until they get a load of President Grijalva!
Grumpy Code Monkey
@The Republic of Stupidity:
Serious question: would you be flabbergasted by monuments in Japan or Germany honoring their soldiers who fell in WWII? Does the losing side not get to acknowledge those who fought for it? Over 72,000 Confederate soldiers died during the war; surely they weren’t all worthless bastards deserving to be forgotten?
Honoring the people who died for you is not necessarily the same as honoring the ideals for which they died. I realize that’s a pretty subtle distinction for most of the commentariat here who see all Texans and Southerners in general as unreconstructed racists.
Bigotry isn’t just about skin color.
I am a Texan. I have no sympathy or patience for the secessionists or the Sons of the Confederacy or the Klan or the Texas GOP. Doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge the people who died fighting for Texas. You can’t get the distinction, well, that’s your hangup, not mine.
The redistricting efforts in TX are less about diluting the votes of racial minorities than they are about diluting the votes of Democrats, period (which is why metro Austin is split among 5 congressional districts). It just so happens that a lot of racial minorities vote Democrat, which is the only reason why there’s any pushback on this nonsense at all.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
RE: The easy choice is to bow to the Kluxers now and do everything they can to consolidate power.
Huh? The Republicans have gone around the federal government by attacking women, gays, and nonwhites at the state level (e.g., Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio, etc). There is increasing agitation about nullification, state’s rights and other noxious BS, much of which comes down to not wanting to take orders from a black president.
Redistricting and voter suppression laws are going to continue at the state level no matter who is elected president in November.
If Obama is re-elected, Republicans in the Congress are going to continue to block his judicial appointments.
The Supreme Court is important, but it is just not true that Republicans have to maintain control of the Court in order to continue their attempts to stay in power.
Felinious Wench
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
Bingo. Austin has 5, Houston has 10 (including one shaped like a crab claw to avoid East Houston), Dallas has 10. Yes, they are big population centers, but that shape of these districts is obscene.
les
@Scott S.:
No. Yes. They deserve it, and each other.
Felinious Wench
@les:
You from Oklahoma, son? :)
Scott S.
@les: If you think that, you’re an idiot, and you’re not much different from the teabaggers who want the whole South to secede.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
Sure, they can continue to try, but even with today’s Supreme Court they’re fighting an uphill battle. The Democrats are fighting them every step of the way, and often doing well enough in court to block them. If Obama stays in power and manages to replace Thomas or Scalia with somebody more in the mold of Sotomayor or Kagan, and those attacks get much, much harder. It’s very likely that the worst voter ID laws of today would be overturned, and I would expect Citizens United to be gutted, too.
Roger Moore
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
You might want to look that up. There is a huge, ongoing controversy over the Japanese treatment of its soldiers from WWII.
rikyrah
KAY,
I was wondering if I had missed your post on the overturning of the OHIO Provisional ballot bullshyt.
rikyrah
I’m not Kay, but remember, every state went through REDISTRICTING after the 2010 census, and this is the election where most people notice it.
My suggestion: go online, if you can check your voter id there, and see what they have at their official website. if you dispute anything, please call your local folks, and have them explain it to you like you’re in preschool. it’s their job, and that’s why they get a paycheck.
kay
@rikyrah:
You didn’t miss it. I couldn’t figutre it out and I didn’t have time to read the actual opinion or some other original source.
I think the Daily Beast story is wrong, so I didn’t want to rely on it, or link to it.
I think they have the Ohio rules wrong in that story.
I have to go to the Ohio State law school site to figure it out, so maybe tomorrow:)
Jado
@Mino:
Turnabout is NEVER fair play for Republicans. Just look back to the “nuclear option” discussions in the Senate.
The Republicans use or misuse of power is never valid precedent; it is proprietary, and, with a little work in the courts, it will be protected by patents and trademarks and copyrights to insure no one but Republicans can ever use it.