Ballot Access News.

At Yes.

“Fleming El-Amin, former chair of the Forsyth County Democratic Party, said he is concerned about the redrawing of House Districts 71 and 72 and the resulting decrease in the percentage of total black votingage citizens. Under the proposed map, District 71, which is represented by Rep. Larry Womble, would see its voting-age African-American population decrease from 51 percent to 47 percent. Also under the proposal, House District 72, which is represented by Rep. Earline Parmon, would see its percentage of voting-age African-American population drop from 45 percent to 43 percent.

“They may seem small percentages but in fact when you’re dealing with people who have questionable motivations, those small percentages make a big difference,” El-Amin said.”

A water district in Texas is to be dissolved after a history of criminal corruption and mismanagement.  But Guadalupe Lopez, the board president of the BexarMet Water District says the dissolution “is a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act.”  More here.

A Salisbury Post article by John Hood worth reading about North Carolina redistricting:

“Anyone who tells you that North Carolina’s redistricting process is simple enough to be put on autopilot has not read the relevant court cases. If our state wasn’t under the jurisdiction of the Voting Rights Act, redistricting could indeed be largely accomplished by a series of mathematical formulas. . . . The problem is that there is no consensus about what the Voting Rights Act requires. As legislative staffers explain in this helpful backgrounder on the General Assembly website, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Gingles decision compels North Carolina to avoid “retrogression” of minority voting interests in the 40 counties subject to Section 5 of the VRA. Historically, that was interpreted to mean that redistricting maps were impermissible if they appeared to make it less likely that minorities could elected representatives from among their own group if they so desired.”

A California voter fraud case concludes:  The defendant “pleaded no contest to a felony count each of voting and registration fraud in exchange for 36 months of conditional/revocable release.  Mariette also will have to serve 30 days on the adult work program, said Shasta County Superior Court Judge Anthony Anderson.”

 Manchester Union Leader.   “The House and Senate can override Lynch’s veto, if leaders can garner two-thirds majorities. A session to deal with vetoes is expected in the fall.  Last week, lawmakers cast successful overrides of Lynch vetoes of bills on parental notification, minimum wage and fire sprinkler regulation.”

The schedule of a conference on overseas and military voting has been announced at the Heritage Foundation.  Here is the full agenda:

Military Families United, Military Voter Protection Project and The Heritage Foundation

present on

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

in the Heritage Foundation’s Allison Auditorium

Military Voting Rights Conference

8:45 a.m.

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Edwin Meese III

Chairman, Center for Legal & Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation

9:00 a.m.

Panel 1:

A State Perspective on the MOVE Act and Military Voting

Natalie Tennant

Secretary of State of West Virginia

Beth Chapman

Secretary of State of Alabama

Mike Ertel

Supervisor of Elections, Seminole County, Florida

Charles “Cully” Stimson

Senior Legal Fellow, The Heritage Foundation (Moderator)

9:45 a.m.

Panel 2:

Exploring Ways to Increase Military Voting Participation in the 2012 Election

Bob Carey

Director, Federal Voting Assistance Program

Donald Palmer

Secretary, Virginia State Board of Elections

and former Director of Elections for Florida

Butch Bowers

Partner, Bowers & Hall, and former Counsel, Civil Rights Division,

U.S. Department of Justice

Eric Eversole

Executive Director, Military Voter Protection Project (Moderator)

10:30 a.m.

Keynote Address:

An Author’s Assessment of the Effectiveness of the MOVE Act

The Honorable John Cornyn (R-TX)

United States Senator

11:15 a.m.

Panel 3:

Exploring Ways to Enforce Military Voting Rights in Federal

and State Courts

Chris Coates

Former Section Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division,

U.S. Department of Justice

Christian Adams

Founder, Election Law Center

Hans von Spakovsky

Senior Legal Fellow, The Heritage Foundation (Moderator)

12:00 p.m.

Keynote Address:

Understanding the Sacrifices of Our Men and Women in Uniform

and the Importance of Protecting Their Rights at Home

Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., USN (ret.)

Former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

The Foundry.

Back in November, this blog and other commentators began urging states to bypass DOJ and go straight to United States District Court for approval of redistricting plans:

“The lesson here is that Republican-controlled legislatures that have drawn up redistricting plans that Democrats don’t like would be foolish to submit those plans to the Civil Rights Division for administrative review.  Instead, they should go straight to the federal district court in D.C., the alternative procedure set forth in the Voting Rights Act.”

Now it seems that Georgia may be following suit  (as well as others). 

“Republican political consultant Joel McElhannon, a confidante of many GOP officials, says a consensus is building among Georgia Republicans that going to court is the best option.”

Why are other states considering bypassing DOJ preclearance and going straight to District Court?  Because a federal court overseeing the process forced the Justice Department to scrap plans for handling the controversial redistricting submissions in Louisiana.  Make no mistake, Virginia and Louisiana were handled differently by DOJ because they submitted their plans simultaneously to the federal district court.

Firstly, thanks to ELC contributor Tabella for all the guest blogging last week.  Tabella’s stories were picked up in other places and received a good deal of attention. 

Secondly, while not blogging here, I managed to do an interview on Fox News about the John Mitchell Eric Holder Justice Department and the mounting scandal regarding Fast and Furious.  Video of the interview on Fox News is here.