Photo: Sergio Flores / Getty Images
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the law establishing The New Texas Election Maps for Congressional, Legislative and State Board of Education Districts, by Texas Legislature Online.
The electoral maps were drawn to keep the Republicans from Texas in power for the next decade. Simultaneously, they diminish the power of minority voters, even though the new census figures point to minority Texans as the main force behind the state’s population growth, according to an analysis by the Texas Tribune.
The new districts created in these electoral maps will be used for the first time in the primary and general elections of the 2022 , unless the courts intervene.
The new Texas electoral map reduces the number of districts in which Hispanics make up the majority of eligible voters for 33 to 30. The number of districts with African American residents as the majority of eligible voters drops from 7 to 6. Meanwhile, the number of districts with a white majority among eligible voters increases from 83 to 89.
The redistricting process, which occurs every 10 years after the new U.S. Census data is released, it is complicated and controversial. Legal battles have already begun in Texas , with a lawsuit claiming that the new districts of the electoral maps unfairly and illegally discriminate against minority voters . More legal challenges are expected to arise in the near future.
Defenders of the Latino vote and minorities filed a lawsuit against the new electoral maps constituencies of voters in Texas , arguing that the effort of Republican Party diminishes the voices of Hispanics and does not reflect the demographic change of the state, activists said Tuesday.
At a press conference led by Eric Holder , former prosecutor general of the United States, the defenders of the vote explained that the new electoral maps “dilute” the voting power of communities of color, in violation of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The legal complaint was filed shortly after Governor Greg Abbott, signed the law establishing the new electoral map of Texas.
There are more Latino voters
T exas added four million new residents since 2010. 95% of this growth is attributed to minority people and the majority are Latino s (two million new residents).
Thanks to these new residents, Texas added two new seats in the House of Representatives, going from 36 to 38 seats. However, Republicans chose to give white voters effective control of the two new seats, which were drawn in the Houston and Austin areas.
“Governor Abbott and the Republicans are avoiding a fair electoral fight,” said Holder at the press conference where the lawsuit against the new electoral map was announced .
He added that Governor Abbott is doing everything he can to prevent that in the election of 2022 is properly reflected the significant population growth of Texas during the last decade .
The lawsuit, filed by more than Latino Vote , requires the federal court of the Western District of Texas that not allow any election under this The new maps , said Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket.
Maps to repress the power of the Latino vote
Los Republicans from Texas have defended the new election maps saying that race was not taken into account for their design.
Republican State Senator Joan Huffman, author of the new election maps , defended their legality arguing that these were examined by a legal team and that no violations were found to the Voting Rights Law .
Holder called on Congress to recognize the threats that are being sown throughout the country, and urged the approval of the Promotion of the John Lewis Voting Rights and the Freedom of Voting Act, which would prohibit the partisan redistribution of electoral maps .
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