I’m no expert on voting laws, but I do wonder about the legitimacy of this latest round of moves and counter-moves by the Republican-led state of Texas and the Democratic-led federal Department of Justice.
Redistricting does not inherently deny any individual voter or any ethnic or political group of voters the right or the opportunity to vote, though it will likely influence the outcome of district elections.
What does it actually mean to claim, as Biden’s DOJ now does, that the Texas redistricting plan “denies Black and Latino voters the equal opportunity to participate in the election process”? The plan does not, I assume, actually prevent Black and Latino voters from voting, though it might make it less likely that they will succeed in electing Black and Latino officials. And I assume, since the political battle over voting laws in Texas is being waged on a largely partisan basis between Democrats and Republicans, that Democrats believe that districts with higher numbers of black and hispanic voters, relative to the number of white voters, will likely elect Democrats to office, while Republicans believe that districts with larger white voting populations are more likely to elect Republicans.
But isn’t this a zero-sum game? If district lines are drawn so that black and latino voters are concentrated in higher relative numbers in certain electoral districts, won’t that mean that white voters will have their voting strength diluted? Should voting districts be drawn so as to increase or decrease the likelihood of electing officials with particular ethnic backgrounds or with particular party affiliations or who hold particular religious beliefs?