Failure to reach agreements on all Texas redistricting maps has rendered an April primary virtually impossible, with the next likely date now May 29.
A settlement on the Texas Senate map was announced Feb. 15 after nearly two days of hearings in a San Antonio federal court, but a compromise was not reached on Congressional and state House maps.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was able to reach an agreement with minority rights groups and state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, on a map that would leave Davis' District 10 unchanged.
But with only a partial deal, the court told Democratic and Republican leaders a primary before May 29 was not likely and instructed them to submit proposed changes to election deadlines and procedures based on that date.
"Looks like April is out," Texas Democratic Party spokesman Anthony Gutierrez said. "May is the next realistic date."
Results of the 2010 census indicating the state's population had earned Texas four more congressional seats sparked chaos in the already tricky redistricting process. Federal lawsuits have since halted the enactment of new maps drawn by the Republican-dominated state Legislature, originally delaying the primaries from March 6 to April 3.
"[Redistricting] has been chaotic since the 1960s, but this is first time the Supreme Court has been involved and actually heard the case in the election cycle," said Steve Bickerstaff, adjunct professor at The University of Texas School of Law.
Williamson County Republican Party Chairman Bill Fairbrother and Travis County Democratic Party Chair Andy Brown agreed the delay in the primaries is a disadvantage as far as costs, scheduling and overall campaigning.
"Both parties really just want some certainty in the date," Fairbrother said. "The longer the uncertainty, the more expensive the elections will be."
Texas is among the states that must get preclearance on redistricting maps by the U.S. Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, according to the Texas Legislative Council. However, the state did not submit the maps to the DOJ for preclearance and instead petitioned a U.S. District Court for a declaratory judgment validating the redistricting plans.
Meanwhile, separate lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts by opponents of the redistricting maps who claim the maps violate the U.S. Constitution as well as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting minority voting power.
Some of the lawsuits were consolidated and heard in September by a U.S. District Court in San Antonio. The three-judge panel redrew the state's maps and submitted them to the Supreme Court as proposed interim plans.
On Jan. 20, the Supreme Court rejected the San Antonio court's maps citing the insertion of the judges' own preferences. The court instructed them to redraw the maps to more closely resemble the state's plan. The San Antonio federal court rejected interim redistricting maps proposed by Abbott on Feb. 6 as the deadline to reach a compromise in time to preserve an April 3 deadline passed. While the April 3 primary deadline passed, there had still been hope for a primary in April.
