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Edited by Geoff Pallay
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Continued legal turmoil over redistricting this week confirmed what many already suspected; Texas will not be able hold its primaries on April 3rd. The embattled parties in Texas’ federal redistricting case failed once again this week to reach agreements over interim congressional and state house maps. After the parties couldn’t produce consensus maps by last week’s court-set deadline, the San Antonio judges gave the two sides until Wednesday to bring them an agreement – in a last ditch effort to preserve April 3 primary. But Wednesday passed without interim maps for the state house or congress, solidifying fears that the pattern of stagnation and delay would continue. A new primary date hasn't yet been set, but May 29th has emerged as the most likely date.
Moving the primary for a third time creates even more confusion and exhaustion for everyone involved – from voters who have a hard enough time figuring out their districts during normal election cycles, to candidates who are unsure what district they should be campaigning for, to election officials who are plagued with retooling a massive administrative operation on the turn of a dime. Furthermore, a May 29 primary could mean that Republicans will have already chosen their presidential nominee before Texas is able to participate – rendering the state’s’ very influential 155 delegates voiceless.
While it was a largely disappointing week for Texas redistricting, an agreement over the state Senate map emerged as a positive sign of progress. Consensus was reached after Republicans agreed to leave Democratic Senator Wendy Davis’s district largely intact.
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