The Bradenton Sun reports:  State lawmakers facing uncertainty, intra-party tensions. Racial divisions in Florida’s increasingly diverse state have become a tense undercurrent coursing through the redistricting debate in Tallahassee as lawmakers decide how far to go to carve out new districts for Florida’s growing ethnic minorities.

Two highlights which made the eyebrows raise:

Senator Arthenia Joyner made the following comment: “That was the whole reason why we got (Amendments) 5 and 6,” Joyner said. “To make it possible for other Democrats to be elected so that (blacks) won’t continue to be in the minority.”  Her startling statement revealed what many Republicans suspected:  That the Democrat Party’s true intent in support of Amendment 5 and 6, otherwise known as Fair Redistricting, was to actually increase their overall partisan representation at the expense of Black representation.  While some Black leaders objected because it may impact current majority minority districts, other African-American legislative leaders such as Joyner believe that unless they are in the majority, the interests of minorities cannot be adequately represented. 

And then add these comments from Professor Susan MacManus on the lack of clarity with the term “retrogression. “Nobody knows how the courts are going to view retrogression,” said USF’s MacManus. “Everybody knows that it is the most important aspect to getting plans cleared through the courts, and yet it is the issue with the least clarity.” 

This observation coming from a professor who actually wrote a book on redistricting.  Unfortunately, she fails to understand that the only institution that has the secret-evolving formula to retrogression is the Department of Justice.   That is, at least, until the Supreme Court clarifies. 

Her shared confusion may ring true to the Supreme Court as they may soon decide how the invasive nature of Section 5 preclearance can possibly be upheld when no one, including the line-drawers, understand it.  When DOJ’s so-called guidelines provide no such guidance, there may be a problem.

Police raid home of Barbara Arnwine, head of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

I will be appearing at an event sponsored by the Philly chapter of the RNLA tonight.  5:30 pm – 7:30 pm.  There will be books to sign, drinks, and all the joy that accompanies events at the Black Sheep Pub.  Details here:

The Black Sheep Pub & Restaurant

 Von Spakovsky and Adams at PJ Media:

“When an incumbent’s prospect of reelection looks shaky, his temptation to take advantage of holes in the security of our election process is the greatest — especially if he believes he can engage in fraud without being detected. Should we be worried over President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign given his prior connections to Project Vote?”

Full story at link above.

Here is reporting from North Carolina on a short legislative session where there may be an override attempt of the photo identification veto issued by Governor Perdue.  Apparently, the Republicans need only a few Democrats to override the veto.  One wonders if Democrats will continue to vote on a strict party-line basis to uphold the veto despite deep bipartisan support found with the public.

Democrats would be smart to negotiate on the language of the legislation and propose a later date to not interfere with the 2012 election.  To do otherwise risks a more strict voter ID bill down the road.  Perhaps, though, both parties are satisfied with this being a political issue and gridlock will remain par for the course.  
   
Veto overrides are always on the agenda in the House, and two high-profile vetoes are considered likely to come up for a vote this week.

Voter ID: House Bill 351 would require voters to show photo ID. Perdue vetoed the bill this summer, echoing the concerns of critics who say the requirement would disproportionately disenfranchise elderly, poor and women voters.

Earlier this year, House leaders failed to get the handful of Democratic votes needed to override the veto. They’re expected to try again during the upcoming session

The media link at Fox News.

However, the best information comes from this press release from the Texas Office of the Attorney General:

At issue is whether the interim maps imposed by a three-judge redistricting panel violate the U.S. Constitution and federal law, and exceeds the proper role of the judiciary. The State of Texas alleges the panel improperly rejected the will of the elected legislature and redrew the State’s House and Senate districts without regard to any established legal or constitutional principles.

Attorney General Greg Abbott explained that a stay of the election process is needed because “elections should not proceed based on legally flawed maps that are likely to be overturned on further review.”

The release also included this important addition about the team that hopes to argue to the Supreme Court.

Additionally, General Abbott announced a significant addition to the appellate team that will be representing Texas at the U.S. Supreme Court. Paul Clement – one of the nation’s foremost appellate lawyers and former Solicitor General of the United States – is assisting the State of Texas with the redistricting challenge. Mr. Clement served as the Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. In that capacity, he was the chief appellate lawyer for the United States and had primary responsibility for appellate arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court. He has argued over 50 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and has argued more cases since 2000 than any other advocate.

The Commercial Appeal reports that:  Nearly 16 months after Republicans unexpectedly won nine county races
in the Aug. 5, 2010, Shelby County election, several losing Democratic
candidates continue to appeal a local judge’s ruling against them and
seek a new vote.

Arguments before the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Jackson could take place in January, a court staffer said. Republicans control the Shelby County Election Commission, and some Democrats have suggested they rigged the vote

and:  In Tennessee, the party that’s in charge of the state legislature has
effective control over the election commissions in the state’s 95
counties. Republicans made strong gains in the state legislature in a
2008 vote and the following year the makeup of the Shelby County
Election Commission shifted from 3-2 in favor of Democrats to 3-2 in
favor of Republicans.

One of the new board’s first actions was to dismiss James Johnson, a
full-time election administrator appointed by Democrats, and replace him
with Richard Holden, a former Republican election commissioner.

Holden was the administrator when an error was discovered on Aug. 5,
2010. The commission has said that an election worker had loaded the
wrong set of data into all electronic poll books that workers use to
determine a person’s eligibility to vote. They said the result was that
poll workers incorrectly told some voters they couldn’t cast normal
ballots because they had already voted early. The problem was fixed and
didn’t affect the outcome of the election, they said.

The rest of the story is here

A report from The Hill on the latest in Ohio. The Republican-controlled Ohio legislature approved new congressional
district lines in September, but Democrats are gathering signatures for a
November 2012 referendum. Democrats were given 90 days from the law’s
signing, which ends on Christmas Day, to turn in more than 230,000 valid
signatures.

At Newsmax.com, Voter watchdog Catherine Engelbrecht denounced Democratic National
Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s allegation that
Republicans are pushing voter identification laws to suppress Democratic
turnout in 2012.

“I think that’s preposterous,” Engelbrecht said during an exclusive
interview with Newsmax.TV. “I think that that is being used as a
political talking point to further an agenda. I think that when you look
at the facts about photo voter ID — the facts — you will see that in
states that have enacted it, participation and voter turnout has
increased.”

The interview video and rest of the story here