Posted 12:39 am Thursday, February 09, 2012
Redistricting Maps Stall Moves East Texas Election Deadlines
By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Bob Edmonson, owner of Color Graphics, a printing company in Hewitt is waiting.
Like all other parties with a stake in the redistricting fight taking place in federal courts, Edmonson said he is mired in a muddied mess.
Edmonson has a logistical stake in the process. When a primary election date is finally set he will print and mass mail more than 2 million of the state's 13 million voter registration cards.
"I am just waiting for the word 'go,'" he said. "I am in touch with the Secretary of State's Office about twice a week but there's really not much you can do because it's a doubly screwed up mess."
When the word "go" is given, Edmonson said he and his five employees will work around the clock to have 2 million registration cards proofed, programmed, printed and mailed to prospective voters in more than 50 counties within 10 days. Edmonson said the quick turnaround will be by necessity not choice.
Election officials and vendors around the state are on hold because of the ongoing disagreement about Texas redistricting maps drawn by legislators. The maps are hung up in federal courts because of lawsuits filed by plaintiffs representing minority groups and Democrats concerned the new maps do not represent population gains in the past decade.
Smith County, which has a population just under 250,000, ordered and deposited postage for more than 100,000 voter registration cards to send via mass mailings to voters by Color Graphics.
Election calendars, which include state and federally mandated deadlines for election administrators around the state and suggested deadlines for vendors such as Color Graphics, are typically "black and white," election officials said. But contentious redistricting disagreements which caused GOP and Democratic primaries to move from March 6 to April 3 to who-knows-when have grayed the process for officials and vendors.
Officials and vendors are coping with uncertainty.
County election offices' preparations for primary elections typically begin months before Election Day.
Smith County Election Administrator Karen Nelson gets ready for a typical March primary beginning in mid-December.
She said the county's process typically takes seven to eight weeks. It includes coordinating with vendors on voter registration cards, absentee ballots and regular ballots, programming the ballot information into 380 voting machines and training volunteer election judges.
But statewide election officials and voters are stuck in limbo as they await a decision by the court.
"When you work elections there is really no wiggle room. You know exactly what your calendar is a year out. You know the dates you have to have military ballots mailed, when the last day to register someone to vote, when early voting starts and when Election Day is," Mrs. Nelson said. "It's set in stone, black and white, there's no gray. But this has turned us upside down."
During a normal election process, local party and election officials would already have mock-ups of ballots and voter registration cards in hand for approval. Because district lines and voter precinct lines are not set, Mrs. Nelson has yet to send that information to vendors for them to begin creating the documents.
"There's no reason for (vendors) to have the information because it could change. So I am on hold," she said. "I should have already sent my forms so they could begin building our election but I haven't been able to."
The delay also has interrupted the annual schedule for voters. Mrs. Nelson said her office now has a message informing callers why they have not received their voter registration cards and that an election date has not been set.
The solution or next legal step in the redistricting map discussions could come during, or soon after, the federal court's next hearing Wednesday. One possible date, April 17, has been circulated for consideration given a compromise is reached then.
"I am hopeful we will have maps in a week or two and get this whole process going," Tarrant County Election Administrator Steve Raborn said.
Tarrant County will mail around 770,000 voter registration cards.
Raborn, who is also past president of the Texas Association of Elections Administrators, said county election officials have diverse support from local officials and county-based governmental lobby groups who are working to educate justices, attorneys on both sides of the argument and state officials regarding the time they need to facilitate a primary election. It's a complex process, considering some voter precincts must be redrawn, in some cases manually, street-by-street.
Briefs have been filed and testimony has been made before the court regarding the difficulties counties could face, Raborn said.
The task of churning out an election, especially in a year with so many unknowns this late in the process will be daunting, he said. Voter registration cards are not Raborn's single most worry.
Ballots pose a major concern.
In any election, ballots can consist of numerous combinations of candidates in multiple languages. Another concern is compliance with mandated deadlines within the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act.
The act stipulates absentee ballots be mailed within 45 days of a federal election. As of the Jan. 28 court order, the MOVE Act and all other deadlines were suspended until further notice.
"I just don't see how some counties will be able to comply with the MOVE Act (for an April 17 election) if the deadlines are not waived," Raborn said. "There is a lot of political pressure to maintain those deadlines because nobody wants to be unfair to our troops."
Mrs. Nelson agrees ballots are a greater concern than even registration cards because voters can still cast ballots with other forms of identification. She expects to have 72 voting precincts and therefore 72 ballot combinations in Smith County. Voters from differing precincts cast ballots in various state and local races. A voter from one precinct votes for a specific combination of candidates based on lines determined precinct by precinct.
"This voter may be able to vote for A, B and C but this voter from another precinct can vote for A, B, C and D. Everyone doesn't vote on the same thing," she said. "Each voter in each precinct will get a ballot specific to their precinct."
A split primary has been a consideration for the courts. Races that are not subject to precinct lines, such as for president, U.S. Senate and county sheriff, would occur while redistricting maps are settled in court. Other races, for state House and Senate positions and local races such as county commissioners and constables would occur later. Split primaries would likely double county election costs. Another consequence of a split primary could be anemic voter turnout in the second primary.
There is also a question regarding opening a second filing period for potential candidates to put their name on the ballot. The court initially ruled a second filing period would begin Feb. 1 but has offered no further guidance on the matter.
Rich Parsons, spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said his office is working as a resource within the discussion to offer guidance regarding deadlines and the logistical process counties face but that the ultimate decision will be made at the court's discretion. He said the office is working toward creating the most streamlined process following a decision but that its plans are predicated on an election date.
In the meantime, Mrs. Nelson and Raborn are preparing for May 22 elections, which include city council and independent school district elections and have not been affected by redistricting.
"The time is really not there, but we will have to make it work," Mrs. Nelson said.
