A Texas Federal District Court determined Wednesday that Wendy Davis and other plaintiffs had won their case against the new redistricting maps for Texas Senatorial elections. The ramifications of this decision are broad in that the decision will curtail the racist redistricting plans laid out by Texas Republicans that would disenfranchise many thousands of eligible voters, especially minorities, throughout Texas.
The ruling stated that there was a discriminatory intent in the proposed redistricting plans. The plans were to be found to be in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Specifically affected would have been Hispanic, Democratic and African American Texan voters. Senator Wendy Davis and several others alleged in the complaint that the state’s Senate redistricting plan was specifically drawn “with the purpose and has the intent of minimizing and reducing the voting strength of minority populations in the Tarrant and Dallas County areas of North Texas.” Ultimately, Davis’ complaint went on to state that the “Intentional fracturing and dismantling of the coalition of minority voters in Senate District 10 constitutes unlawful vote dilution and discrimination”, both of which are unlawful under the United States Constitution as well as the US Voting Rights Act.
