Redistricting to take center stage this legislative session

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - State lawmakers are expected to spend a significant portion of the upcoming legislative session thinking about redistricting.

Every 10 years, lawmakers in Austin redraw the political boundaries for state and federal political jurisdictions while city and county officials redraw local political boundaries and school district board lines.

In every redistricting cycle since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, courts have forced lawmakers to redraw maps because the original ones disenfranchised certain voters.

This year, for the first time since 1970, Texas does not have to run its maps by the Department of Justice, thanks to a Supreme Court decision in 2013.

This process is known as preclearance.

“Before, the burden was on the state to show that it wasn’t discriminating,” said Joaquin Gonzalez, a staff attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project.

“But now groups or individuals have to show that the state did discriminate after the fact,” he said.

Redistricting cannot officially start until the results of the 2020 Census count are given to lawmakers.

That will not happen until April because the Census count was delayed by the pandemic and various legal battles with the Trump administration.

A growing number of state lawmakers, like Rep. Hugh Shine, R-Temple, believe the delayed Census results will force a special session.

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