Court fight ends in key Texas House race, but voting rights lawsuit continues
Texas Democrats announced this week they won't seek a restraining order against Dallas County elections officials over the vote count in the House District 105 race, the Dallas News reports.
The party's decision brings to a close court challenges to Republican incumbent Linda Harper-Brown's 19-vote win over Democratic challenger Bob Romano in the district, which covers the city of Irving. However, Romano's attorney told the paper that his client still has not decided whether to exercise his option of contesting the election before the full House.
A win by Harper-Brown would give the Republicans a 76-74 majority in the state House.
But Texas Democrats are still moving forward with their federal voting-rights lawsuit against Dallas County elections officials over how they count certain votes cast on electronic machines.
Under the county's current rules, when someone votes a straight-party ticket but also selects a candidate from that party in a particular race, electronic machines deselect the candidate, and the vote in that race does not count. But if someone using a paper ballot votes a straight-party ticket and also chooses someone from that party in a particular race, the vote for that candidate does count -- a practice known as "emphasis voting."
The party's lawsuit claims the Secretary of State's instruction to cancel electronic emphasis votes in the District 105 race represents a departure from existing law and previous instructions, calling it "clearly partisan." It argues that elections officials failed to receive proper pre-clearance from the U.S. Justice Department to let emphasis votes cast by machine go uncounted.
Under the federal Voting Rights Act, Texas and many other states -- most of them in the South -- must get federal approval before implementing voting changes.
Even if all the contested electronic emphasis votes in the House District 105 race were counted, Romano would still lose. But Chad Dunn, an attorney for the Texas Democratic Party, tells the Austin Chronicle that's not the point:
The party's decision brings to a close court challenges to Republican incumbent Linda Harper-Brown's 19-vote win over Democratic challenger Bob Romano in the district, which covers the city of Irving. However, Romano's attorney told the paper that his client still has not decided whether to exercise his option of contesting the election before the full House.
A win by Harper-Brown would give the Republicans a 76-74 majority in the state House.
But Texas Democrats are still moving forward with their federal voting-rights lawsuit against Dallas County elections officials over how they count certain votes cast on electronic machines.
Under the county's current rules, when someone votes a straight-party ticket but also selects a candidate from that party in a particular race, electronic machines deselect the candidate, and the vote in that race does not count. But if someone using a paper ballot votes a straight-party ticket and also chooses someone from that party in a particular race, the vote for that candidate does count -- a practice known as "emphasis voting."
The party's lawsuit claims the Secretary of State's instruction to cancel electronic emphasis votes in the District 105 race represents a departure from existing law and previous instructions, calling it "clearly partisan." It argues that elections officials failed to receive proper pre-clearance from the U.S. Justice Department to let emphasis votes cast by machine go uncounted.
Under the federal Voting Rights Act, Texas and many other states -- most of them in the South -- must get federal approval before implementing voting changes.
Even if all the contested electronic emphasis votes in the House District 105 race were counted, Romano would still lose. But Chad Dunn, an attorney for the Texas Democratic Party, tells the Austin Chronicle that's not the point:
"The best case scenario is that [these machines] record a voter's selection in such an ambiguous manner that voting officials can't determine voter intent."The controversy arose as Texas experienced a rise in straight-ticket voting that benefited Democrats. In the recent election in Dallas County, for example, 60 percent of all straight-ticket votes went to Democrats.
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.