Harris County Redistricting, or why we love the VRA.

[jimrtex]

Population figures are on left.

[Brittain33]

Population figures are on left.

In New York State, Republican map drawing results in minority senate districts being overpopulated relative to Republican senate districts elsewhere in the state. 

[krazen1211]

Population figures are on left.

In New York State, Republican map drawing results in minority senate districts being overpopulated relative to Republican senate districts elsewhere in the state. 

Yes, of course. Such is the nature of partisan gerrymandering. Such however should not be expected by a so called 'impartial body' who obviously overpopulated the 2 heavily Republican districts.

[Bacon King]

7.5% difference between least and most populated districts, if I figured that out right. That's not as bad as going through all that effort to craft the obscene boundaries of precincts 1 and 2 without either of them even having a black or hispanic voter majority. I mean, if whites are 45% CVAP and Hispanics are 40%, can you even assume that'll elect the Hispanic community's candidate of choice?

[Brittain33]

Population figures are on left.

In New York State, Republican map drawing results in minority senate districts being overpopulated relative to Republican senate districts elsewhere in the state. 

Yes, of course. Such is the nature of partisan gerrymandering. Such however should not be expected by a so called 'impartial body' who obviously overpopulated the 2 heavily Republican districts.

The Senate majority has assured us its maps were drawn fairly and with the input of citizens, and nothing untoward was done.

[krazen1211]

The Senate majority has assured us its maps were drawn fairly and with the input of citizens, and nothing untoward was done.

Certainly then they are full of dishonest men. I would hope that the Harris County courts would be full of more honest men. The few precincts bordering overpopulated district 4 and underpopulated district 2 are, of course, heavily Republican.

[minionofmidas]

7.5% difference between least and most populated districts, if I figured that out right. That's not as bad as going through all that effort to craft the obscene boundaries of precincts 1 and 2 without either of them even having a black or hispanic voter majority. I mean, if whites are 45% CVAP and Hispanics are 40%, can you even assume that'll elect the Hispanic community's candidate of choice?

I'd say "presumably, given the 11% Blacks and the existence of White Democrats in parts here". But then I remember Gene Green.

I completely overlooked the population inequality at first glance. Of course, not really a biggie but clearly systematic.
No, what I was transfixed by were the citizenship guesstimates. Wow low. And confirming something I'd figured before from Texan election results - Hispanic citizenship rates in Republican rural parts or suburbia are lower than in the Barrio.

[jimrtex]

Population figures are on left.

In New York State, Republican map drawing results in minority senate districts being overpopulated relative to Republican senate districts elsewhere in the state. 

The county commissioner map was drawn by a federal court.  The federal judges who drew the legislative district maps cited Lurios v Cox as their reason for making changes all over the place where there was no VRA issues.  7.5% is quite a lot for districts with a million people and obviously no particular concern about political boundaries or compactness.

[jimrtex]

7.5% difference between least and most populated districts, if I figured that out right. That's not as bad as going through all that effort to craft the obscene boundaries of precincts 1 and 2 without either of them even having a black or hispanic voter majority. I mean, if whites are 45% CVAP and Hispanics are 40%, can you even assume that'll elect the Hispanic community's candidate of choice?

I'd say "presumably, given the 11% Blacks and the existence of White Democrats in parts here". But then I remember Gene Green.

I completely overlooked the population inequality at first glance. Of course, not really a biggie but clearly systematic.
No, what I was transfixed by were the citizenship guesstimates. Wow low. And confirming something I'd figured before from Texan election results - Hispanic citizenship rates in Republican rural parts or suburbia are lower than in the Barrio.

Precinct 3 in particular has areas that have a lot of Central Americans, and the population tends to be dispersed in affordable housing (eg apartments).

Precinct 2 was redrawn in 2002 to elect a Hispanic, after a long-time commissioner had retired.  She was defeated in 2010.  That's why this year's redistricting ended up in court.

A couple of extra challenges are that commissioners have operational control of certain facilities in their precincts, such as parks and community centers and roads.  So you can't simply move population without considering whether this will shift other facilities.  The commissioner in Precinct 1, El Franco Lee, is the first Black commissioner (since 1985) so you can't just slide some Black areas into Precinct 2, to increase the Democratic vote.

And there isn't an easy way to avoid including far southeast Harris County in Precinct 2 like is done with Houston

http://www.houstontx.gov/council/2012maps.html

See District E.

[minionofmidas]

The solution, clearly, is to abolish that "operational control" bull, and also increase the number of commissioners to where it's more of a county council.

[jimrtex]

The solution, clearly, is to abolish that "operational control" bull, and also increase the number of commissioners to where it's more of a county council.

Every county has 4 commissioners precincts, and every commissioners precinct must be in one or more election precincts.  The election precincts in some of the smaller counties in West Texas can be pretty interesting.

[Bacon King]

The solution, clearly, is to abolish that "operational control" bull, and also increase the number of commissioners to where it's more of a county council.

Every county has 4 commissioners precincts, and every commissioners precinct must be in one or more election precincts.  The election precincts in some of the smaller counties in West Texas can be pretty interesting.

Ah, intersting to know! I remember wondering before why every one of the tiny West Texas counties had at least four precincts.

[jimrtex]

The solution, clearly, is to abolish that "operational control" bull, and also increase the number of commissioners to where it's more of a county council.

Every county has 4 commissioners precincts, and every commissioners precinct must be in one or more election precincts.  The election precincts in some of the smaller counties in West Texas can be pretty interesting.

Ah, intersting to know! I remember wondering before why every one of the tiny West Texas counties had at least four precincts.

Take a look at Culberson, which has 5 election precincts.  3-3 and 3-5 are both in the same commissioner's district.  There is a separate election precinct (3-5) in the north, otherwise voters would have to drive 50 miles to Van Horn.   The other 4 precincts include part of Van Horn which has 82% of the population (86% in 2010).

[krazen1211]

The County map was precleared.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/County-Commissioners-redistricting-map-given-nod-2433566.php


Not really relevant to 2012 as the disputed precint 2 is not up until 2014.

[jimrtex]

The County map was precleared.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/County-Commissioners-redistricting-map-given-nod-2433566.php

Not really relevant to 2012 as the disputed precinct 2 is not up until 2014.

But the interim plan will be used for 2012.

[krazen1211]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Judge-strikes-down-county-redistricting-lawsuit-4703397.php?cmpid=htx

The lawsuit, which went to trial last November, was filed in 2011 as the county prepared to adopt a map with new precinct boundaries it had drawn following the 2010 census. The map Harris County Commissioners Court adopted will go into effect immediately.




Some latino groups are attempting to claim that the State of Texas discriminates against minorities due to a redistricting of Galveston County. I suspect the state of Texas will counter with this ruling on the much larger Harris County.

[krazen1211]

7.5% difference between least and most populated districts, if I figured that out right. That's not as bad as going through all that effort to craft the obscene boundaries of precincts 1 and 2 without either of them even having a black or hispanic voter majority. I mean, if whites are 45% CVAP and Hispanics are 40%, can you even assume that'll elect the Hispanic community's candidate of choice?

I'd say "presumably, given the 11% Blacks and the existence of White Democrats in parts here". But then I remember Gene Green.

I completely overlooked the population inequality at first glance. Of course, not really a biggie but clearly systematic.
No, what I was transfixed by were the citizenship guesstimates. Wow low. And confirming something I'd figured before from Texan election results - Hispanic citizenship rates in Republican rural parts or suburbia are lower than in the Barrio.

The plaintiff's claim was that the maps should be wholesale redrawn into something that look like this.

Link

[jimrtex]

The plaintiff's claim was that the maps should be wholesale redrawn into something that look like this.

Link

The plaintiff's example plan was apparently much worse since it split Baytown and Pasadena, in a triple swirl.

The case had a black judge, a black lawyer for Harris County, black defense intervenors: state representatives Senfronia Thompson and Harold Dutton, with former Congressman Craig Washington as their attorney.

So the judge had to write an 158-page opinion making it appear as though it was a close issue.

Under the triple swirl, Precinct 1 would pick up a bunch of Alief which had a large share of blacks but who are moving to Fort Bend, and lose areas on the north end around IAH.  The plaintiffs also complained that areas that voted 90% for the "Latino's candidate of choice", otherwise known as blacks voting for the the Democratic candidate, were being moved from Precinct 2 into Precinct 1, even though Latino's only vote about 70% Democratic.

[krazen1211]

Another claim made by the plaintiffs was that Anglo Republicans preferred to elect Anglo Republicans over Latino Republicans.

Then Ted Cruz won a US Senate seat.

Plaintiffs amended their complaint to state that US Senate seats don't count.

[krazen1211]

appealed


For the record, these liberals are demanding that the 'Hispanic' and black districts be heavily underpopulated compared to the 2 Republican districts. They don't really give a damn about 1M1V.