How the redistricting confusion affects you

The upcoming primary elections could be crucial for public education, but as the deadline approaches for filing for legislative offices, candidates and voters can’t even be sure what districts they're in.

Redistricting turmoil isn’t unprecedented

The last time the Texas Legislature attempted to fulfill its responsibility to redraw election boundaries (typically done every 10 years after the census figures are available), the year was 2001, George W. Bush was the new President of the United States, and Republicans were gaining strength in a state House of Representatives that had been predominantly Democratic for decades. (Republicans had held a majority in the Senate since 1997.)

Legislators were not able to pass a redistricting bill that session, passing the responsibility on to the Legislative Redistricting Board as provided for in law. But when the House and Senate met again in the 2003 session, Republicans had gained a majority in the House and introduced an “off-year” redistricting bill to revise the boundaries again, eventually resulting in the flight of House Democrats to Ardmore, OK, to prevent a quorum, and later the Senate Democrats to Albuquerque, NM, for the same reason. The bill was finally passed after three special sessions.

Legal challenges

Although House Democrats no longer have the strength of numbers to upset the process in the same way, this year’s redistricting efforts have been only slightly less tumultuous. After the redistricting bill was passed in the regular legislative session last spring, legal challenges followed quickly.

The legal challenges are based on assertions that the redistricting maps for the state legislature and congressional seats do not reflect increases in minority population. This fall a federal court redrew districts to increase the number of minority seats, but Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott challenged those maps as “fatally flawed,” leading to the current state of limbo. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the Abbott appeal, but set a date in January, nearly a month after the deadline for filing for public office in Texas.

What happens next?

So while candidates are filing for offices during the December filing period (which was extended through Dec. 19), the boundaries for the districts in which they are running are not finalized. One proposal on the table would allow candidates to change the office for which they filed, if needed due to further changes in boundaries, and even to allow new candidates to file after the maps are firmed up. UPDATE: On Friday, Dec. 16, Republican and Democratic leaders agreed to a proposal that would allow candidates to file or adjust their filing as needed through Feb. 1, 2012. This agreement is expected to be approved by the court.

Meanwhile, the primary election is still scheduled for March 6, 2012, though even that could be changed. It’s possible the primary election could be pushed back (likely to a date in May, if at all), although some Republican leaders are advocating a split primary with the elections for president, statewide offices, State Board of Education and other races in which the boundaries are not under dispute to remain in March while the House/Senate/congressional elections are moved to May. UPDATE: The Dec. 16 agreement referenced above would also move the March primary for all offices to April 3.

Want to know who you should vote for?

At this point, we can’t even tell you who you CAN vote for. When the boundaries are finalized, TCTA hopes to provide our members with valuable customized information about voting records, survey responses and other information for the candidates in your specific House and Senate districts. Until that time, however, we will at least be able to provide an online listing of all candidates and the district for which they filed, along with voting records and survey responses. (Check our TexasTeachersVote.org website after the beginning of the new year.)