CD23 (and HD29) runoff date set

The runoff date for CD23 and HD29 will be December 12.

Two weeks after voters sent U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla and former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez into a runoff, it finally got put on the calendar. Voters go to the polls Dec. 12.

Early voting starts Dec. 4.

But soon after word got out late Tuesday, Rodriguez objected to the short period between the announcement and election day, saying in a written statement that Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams had done "a disservice."

"This is yet another coordinated Republican scheme to manipulate the electoral process in order to limit voter participation," the San Antonio Democrat said.

The runoff - and the Nov. 7 special election that preceded it - stemmed from the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling that GOP leaders violated the Voting Rights Act in 2003 when they carved 100,000 Hispanics out of District 23. As a remedy, a three-judge panel redrew its boundaries to include the heavily Hispanic South Bexar County.

One of the plaintiffs' attorneys in the case, Luis Vera Jr., said Tuesday night he was considering going back to court. State officials, he argued, should have sought "pre-clearance" from the U.S. Justice Department before setting the runoff date. He also said the timing of the announcement - late in the day, shortly before a major holiday - was suspicious.

"They're setting this up to disenfranchise the Latino vote," said Vera, a longtime Rodriguez supporter and national general counsel of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

But Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt contended the governor had complied with the court order that set up the 23rd District's special election. Also, "because it is a court order," she said, "we do not have to go through pre-clearance with the Justice Department."

Vera planned to convene a meeting today with other attorneys from the redistricting case to weigh their options - which include seeking a temporary restraining order in federal court to stop the election.

I understand the objection, but I don't know that there's much to be gained by suing again. At least Rodriguez has the support of the DCCC and the TDP, so at least he's not sitting around waiting for a development there. In fact, he's been on the offensive against Bonilla.

Democrat Ciro Rodriguez on Tuesday hammered U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla's voting record on veterans' benefits.

In a news conference at a South Side VFW post, Rodriguez highlighted "no" votes the San Antonio Republican took on a 2003 amendment to give a $1,500 bonus to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and a 2005 motion to expand the military's Tricare health insurance program for reservists and National Guard members.

Bonilla faces the former congressman in a Dec. 12 runoff in Congressional District 23.

"Henry Bonilla has an established record of failing American veterans," Rodriguez said, "and has made it clear that keeping the promise to our veterans is not one of his priorities."

Game on. December 12 is 20 days from now, so if you want to get involved, now is the time.

UPDATE: I had assumed that the two elections would be on the same date. Turns out that this assumption was incorrect.

Governor Rick Perry today set December 19th for a special election to fill the seat vacated by the death of State Representative Glenda Dawson.

[...]

Early voting for the special election will begin December eleventh.

I just got off the phone with the SOS office and confirmed this. My apologies for the confusion.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 22, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack