2 0 2 2 P R I M A R Y E L E C T I O N G U I D E
“...YOU SPENDALL YOUR TIME REALLY BUILDING UP RELATIONSHIPS INA COMMUNITY, AND THEN OVERNIGHT THOSE LINES ARE REDRAWN.” STATE REP. JOHN BUCY III, D AUSTIN
“I’DSAYCEDARPARK HAS THEBENEFITOF FOURREPRESENTATIVES WORKINGTHEIR ISSUES, WHICH ISGOOD.” STATE REP. TERRY WILSON, R MARBLE FALLS
Legislature brought resistance from various groups concerned the process would not result in an equitable reection of where new population growth occurred, said Miguel Rivera, voting rights coordinator for the Texas Civil Rights Project. “So we know that in Texas over the past 10 years, the state’s population grew by 4 million people and that 95% of that growth was from people of color. The maps at both the congressional level, the state Senate and even the state House level don’t actively increase the districts that represent these new communities, but instead, actively increase majority Anglo districts in the map’s representation,” Rivera said. Those allegations are in line with a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit brought against the state of Texas on Dec. 6 alleging “vote dilution,” or spreading voters of color around several districts to reduce their voting power. If that could be proven in court, it would be a violation of Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, according to the lawsuit. “I think therewas a tactic as a part of a larger strategy that we saw in gerrymandering from the state govern- ment this time around. I think the last time [in the last redistricting process] we de nitely saw the cracking of urban centers. But I think this time around as urban centers grew by so much and basically grew too big [and were split] into several districts,” Rivera said. Albert said if fair representation is wanted that reects communities of interest, keeps communities together and produces representation that looks like the population, then a di erent model is needed that does not allow current lawmakers to protect incum- bents and partisan advantages. “Most people don’t pay attention to this process,” Albert said. “Whoever gets to draw the lines deter- mines a lot about who has political power in this state.” Jishnu Nair and Eric Weilbacher contributed to this report.
Wilson said Williamson County’s large population growth made it di cult to keep communities of inter- est, such as cities and school districts, within the same district. He said having multiple representatives work- ing on each city’s issues can be an advantage for each fast-growing city. “At rst we were like, ‘That’s tough because you don’t have that one representative that you go to,’”Wil- son said. “But I was frankly thinking about it the wrong way. You have multiple representatives to help with the endeavors ... that the cities are facing.” In the state Senate, District 24 will primarily repre- sent Cedar Park and Leander with District 5 covering some western areas and District 25 covering the Travis County portion of the cities. The new District 24 includes most of Cedar Park and Leander and stretches fromBell County to south of San Antonio and to Sutton County in central West Texas. District 24 incumbent state Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R Lakeway, is running for Texas land commissioner, and three Republican candidates are vying for the seat. District 5 state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R George- town, previously represented all of Williamson County in addition to other Central and East Texas counties. Schwertner is running unopposed for reelection. Albert said these particular state Senate districts are an example of maps drawn for political purposes and do not create “communities of interest” as someone in Cedar Park would have little in common with a res- ident in rural Sutton County. Some people or groups testi ed to lawmakers in favor of keeping communities together rather than divided. “There were some interesting back and forths of
people drawing the maps arguing, ‘You’re better o being sliced into two districts because you get two rep- resentatives representing you rather than one,’” Albert said. “But typically that’s not really what they want.” In the U.S. congressional districts, District 31 Rep. John Carter, R Round Rock, will continue representing a large part of Cedar Park and Leander in Williamson County, if reelected. But some residents will now be in District 10, which stretches from areas west of Houston to western Travis County—connected by a narrow area of south Cedar Park. The redistricting process also redrew maps for the State Board of Education. In old maps, the Williamson County portion of Cedar Park and Leander was repre- sented in District 10. Newmaps have divided the Travis County portion and the southern Williamson County portion into District 5, whose incumbent, Rebecca Bell-Metereau, D SanMarcos, is running for reelection. The remainder of Williamson County remains in Dis- trict 10, which is represented by TomMaynard, R Flor- ence, who is running unopposed. Redistricting is also done at a local level. Remapped Williamson County commissioner precincts went into e ect Jan. 1, though a majority of the Leander-Cedar Park area remains in Precinct 2. Travis County commis- sioners also approved new maps, and the local Travis County area will stay in Precinct 3. Cedar Park and Leander city councils are elected at large without geographic districts, so redistricting is not needed like in neighboring cities. Contesting redistrictingoutcomes The process of creating the maps in the Texas
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
Dates to know
Representationmeets growth
The decennial redistricting process gave Texas two more congressional districts as a result of countrywide growth, but the number of state representatives and senators remained the same.
The 2022 general election will be Nov. 8. Here are important dates to know for these statewide and local races. Voters should also note that local entities, such as the cities of Cedar Park and Leander, will hold elections May 7. PRIMARY ELECTION Feb. 14-25: early voting period March 1: election day PRIMARY RUNOFF ELECTION April 25: voter registration deadline May 16-20: early voting period
TEXAS HOUSE
TEXAS SENATE
The state population grew since the 2010 census. 15.9%
194,303 residents per district
940,178 residents per district
31 districts
Cedar Park added
more residents between 2010 and 2020. 28,658
U.S. HOUSE
May 24: election day GENERAL ELECTION
766,987 residents per district
Oct. 11: voter registration deadline Oct. 24-Nov. 4: early voting period Nov. 8: Election Day
150 districts
Leander added
more residents between 2010 and 2020. 32,681
38 districts
SOURCE: TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
SOURCES: TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
25
CEDAR PARK LEANDER EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022
Powered by FlippingBook