By Acacia Coronado -
The Associated Press
The Justice Department sued Texas on Monday for redesigning electoral maps in a way that, it alleges,
discriminates against Latino and black minority voters
.
The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas, claims the state violates part of the Voting Rights Act.
He points out that the vast majority of Texas population growth in the last decade is due to the Latino, Black and Asian population, but the new maps approved by the Republicans, who govern that state,
do not reflect for these communities an improved opportunity to elect to their representatives
.
Citizens wait for their turn to elect their presidential candidate at a voting center in Dallas, Texas, on November 3, 2020.LM Otero / AP
Instead, the Justice Department says, the maps group black and Latino communities into oddly shaped districts - one of the Dallas area looks like a seahorse - while preserving safe seats for white Republicans.
"This is not the first time that Texas has acted to minimize the rights of minority citizens to vote," Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said during a press conference to announce the lawsuit.
"Decade after decade, the courts have found that Texas has enacted redistricting plans that deliberately dilute the voting power of Latino and black voters and
violate the Voting Rights Act,
" he reiterated.
[Record participation: more than half of Latinos exercised their right to vote in the 2020 presidential elections]
The lawsuit cites several congressional districts in which Republicans drew forced lines to reduce the proportion of black and Latino voters.
In the competitive 23rd district of West Texas, the map cut out areas near El Paso and San Antonio to
reduce the proportion of Latino residents of voting age by 9%
.
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In the Dallas area, he pulled black and Latino residents of the northwestern suburbs of the district from legislator Beth Van Duyne, who last year narrowly won her re-election against a black and Latino Democratic candidate.
In the Houston area, where the proportion of the white population is declining, the map kept six of the 10 House districts as either white-majority or plurality districts.
[National Voter Registration Day: Here are the requirements to vote for the first time in the US]
Texas has had to defend its maps in court after every redistricting process since the Voting Rights Act went into effect in 1965, but this will be the first since a Supreme Court ruling said Texas and other states with a history of racial profiling they no longer need the Department of Justice to examine maps prior to approval.