TX: LULAC suing state/TX Dem Party over primary/caucus voting: "diluted Latino votes"

[rainbow4321]

The hearing today was cancelled by the judge because of "high gas prices" (wants responses in writing instead)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/052008dnmetgas.c102512.html


A judge canceled a Monday hearing in a lawsuit over Texas' primary and caucus system used to distribute delegates, in part because gas is so expensive.

The League of United Latin American Citizens of Texas, the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston and others sued the state of Texas and the Texas Democratic Party earlier this month, contending the complicated system used in the March 4 primary election unfairly diluted Latino votes.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery cited high gas prices in his order canceling the hearing, which he issued Friday.

"Moreover, numerous gallons of $4.00 a gallon gasoline would be expended for a significant number of persons to appear with the result being an oral presentation of the already written arguments," Biery wrote.

[GarbagemanLB]

1. LOL.

[ej510]

4. It is amazing how no one complained when Bill ran both times.

Now since Hillary was trounced all of a sudden it's a problem.

[rainbow4321]

7. So they have a low voter turnout in '04 and '06 and *now* they want a "stronger voice"??

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_9208303


Texas Democrats distribute the state's 193 delegates using both a primary election and a caucus, but the distribution favors state Senate districts that had high voter turnout in the last presidential and gubernatorial elections.

In the March 4 election, that meant predominantly Hispanic districts, where turnout was low in 2004 and 2006, got fewer delegates than others, particularly urban, predominantly black districts. Latino districts favored Hillary Clinton; black districts favored Barack Obama.

LULAC is not seeking to stop Texas delegates from being seated at the Democratic convention, however. "This is not a lawsuit about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama," said LULAC attorney Jose Garza. "We think this has an adverse effect on the Latino community, and it seems to us that it's a fairly simple fix."

LULAC wants the delegates reallocated to give Latino-majority areas a stronger voice, and he said several methods could achieve that.

[BattyDem]

2. How long has Texas had the two-step primary?

Why wasn't it a problem until now? :eyes:

[rainbow4321]

5. Since **before** Bill Clinton ran in /won them.....

It was a Clinton supporter who initially came up with the TX 2 step system.


Maybe they can get HRC on the stand and ask why she didn't oppose them back when BC won them...and why she didn't spend her time as First Lady trying to influence getting the system changed since she's the one who claimed strong ties to TX "for 30 years", especially with the South TX Latino population. Where was her deep concern for them prior to LOSING our caucus??

[PM7nj]

3. Too bad they didn't thik of this BEFORE Texas voted.

I would like to see them argue about not count the caucuses in TX while at the same time demanding Florida be seated as is.

[4themind]

6. It's not going to get anywhere in time

And the re-districting which served as a basis for relative delegate assignment, was actually drawn up by a plan hatched by Tom Delay, and the supremes already held to be constitutional when faced with similar civil rights challenges (which I disagreed with, but I'm sure they'll argue against the "similarity " to the previous case with a different set of arguments). Combine this with previous Supreme court decisions on the independence of Party officials in determining their own delegate allocation rules and I don't think this will make too many waves. But then again I'm not a lawyer

[blogslut]

8. The system isn't complicated

Primary delegates were alloted based on turnout for 2004-2006 elections. Those precincts with high Hispanic populations were alloted less delegates because they didn't show up to the polls for the last two elections. As for the precinct caucuses, they were open to anyone that voted in the Democratic primary.

Since gas prices don't appear to be going down any time soon, maybe the judge will just keep delaying the hearing.

[NorthernSpy]

9. the system didn't undervalue them -- they undervalued themselves by not showing up...

The delegate system gives greater weight to districts with higher voter turnout, which seems perfectly reasonable to me. Why shouldn't high-participation districts have a relatively greater say in choosing our nominees? Why shouldn't level of commitment be taken into consideration in party matters?


:shrug: