Tag Archives: Census

More Census changes coming

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This seems like a good idea. On the next U.S. census and future federal government forms, the list of checkboxes for a person’s race and ethnicity is officially getting longer. The Biden administration has approved proposals for a new response … Continue reading →

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House re-passes its redistricting map

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Done and done. The Texas House on Wednesday reapproved the map of districts for its 150 seats, which was redrawn in 2021 and fortified the Republican majority while diluting the voting strength of Hispanic and Black voters. The House made … Continue reading →

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Senate re-passes its redistricting map

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Mostly political theater, as there’s little reason to believe they actually need to cover their butts at this point. A year and half after it was first approved, the Texas Senate on Monday voted to rubber-stamp a map setting the … Continue reading →

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A bigger House

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Proposals like this come along every few years. The size of the House of Representatives hasn’t kept up with population growth for a very long time—in fact, it hasn’t even tried to—but one congressman has a solution. Democratic Rep. Earl … Continue reading →

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It’s re-redistricting time

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

More amusing than alarming, with a bit of annoying as well. The Texas Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to again take up the decennial process of redrawing the boundaries of the state’s political districts a year and a half after … Continue reading →

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Thirty million Texans

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

We reach another milestone. Fueled by migration to the state from other parts of the country, Texas crossed a new population threshold this year: It is now home to 30 million people. New estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census … Continue reading →

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LULAC files that lawsuit to end Houston City Council At Large districts

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve been waiting for this. The League of United Latin American Citizens on Monday filed its long-anticipated lawsuit against the city of Houston, seeking to get rid of at-large City Council seats that it says leave Hispanic residents with insufficient representation at City Hall. … Continue reading →

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HISD redistricting is on the docket

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Already happening, in fact. Houston ISD plans to redraw the boundary lines for its nine school board trustees based on population changes reflected in the latest U.S. Census. HISD officials emphasized that the changes only impact voting, not what schools … Continue reading →

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The imminent Latino plurality

Posted on September 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It may already be here, but it’s not quite officially official just yet. A closely watched estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday indicates that Texas may have passed a long-awaited milestone: the point where Hispanic residents make up … Continue reading →

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Chron story on the proposed new City Council map

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Remember, you heard it here first. Houston’s proposed City Council maps for 2023 elections make only minor changes to district boundaries near Rice University, Freedmen’s Town and parts of downtown. Overall, less than 3% of Houston’s 2.3 million residents will … Continue reading →

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City Council redistricting on the agenda

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready for some public hearings. The City Council of the City of Houston, Texas, will hold the following public hearings in the City Council Chamber, City Hall, 2nd Floor, 901 Bagby, Houston, Texas 77002. The purpose of the hearings is … Continue reading →

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Afro-Latinos

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting. A Pew Research Center survey has found that 6 million adults in the United States identify as Afro-Latino, noting that this population experiences higher levels of discrimination than Hispanic people who do not identify as Afro-descendant. The nonpartisan … Continue reading →

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We really missed counting a lot of people in Texas

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Over half a million, by the latest estimate. Tripped up by politics and the pandemic — and with only a last-minute investment in promotion by the state — the 2020 census likely undercounted the Texas population by roughly 2%, the … Continue reading →

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Here’s your public meeting schedule for Houston City Council redistricting

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Attend one and be In The Know. Houston residents will have a chance to preview potential changes to Houston’s 11 City Council districts at a series of public town hall meetings in April and May. […] The town hall meetings … Continue reading →

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Chron story on City Council redistricting

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Lots more info now. As Houston begins to redraw its City Council map for the 2023 elections, two districts representing western portions of the city, including Montrose, the Heights, River Oaks, and Uptown, among other neighborhoods, have out-sized populations that … Continue reading →

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City Council redistricting is on the dock

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a schedule of events related to redistricting for Houston City Council. Some of this has already happened. Last week, unless it got tagged in which case it will come up again at the next Council meeting, Council should have … Continue reading →

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SCOTx hearing on state redistricting lawsuits

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The state lawsuits over the “county line rule” in Cameron County and the Eckhardt/Gutierrez “decennial redistricting only in a regular session” contention had a hearing before the State Supreme Court over whether these suits can be heard in state district … Continue reading →

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How the 2030 Census could be different

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A very early preview of some possibilities, which may or may not come to fruition. Beyond the reports of undercounts and overcounts in population totals, there is another takeaway from the post-mortem of 2020 census data issued on Thursday: This … Continue reading →

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Of course the Census undercounted people of color

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This was the Trump administration’s goal from the beginning. The 2020 census continued a longstanding trend of undercounting Black people, Latinos and Native Americans, while overcounting people who identified as white and not Latino, according to estimates from a report the U.S. … Continue reading →

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Is it time to ditch At Large seats on Houston City Council?

Posted on January 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s one argument for it. The lack of Latinos on the City Council undermines the legitimacy of Houston’s government, experts say, and is something that a prominent Hispanic organization is pushing to change with a lawsuit and ballot proposition. The … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court to hear whether state redistricting lawsuit can proceed

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the update I’ve been waiting for. Not what I was hoping for, but it is what it is. The state’s bid to toss a legal challenge arguing last year’s GOP-led redistricting effort violated the Texas Constitution is headed to … Continue reading →

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“Unprecedented” meddling in the Census

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They weren’t subtle about it. A newly disclosed memorandum citing “unprecedented” meddling by the Trump administration in the 2020 census and circulated among top Census Bureau officials indicates how strongly they sought to resist efforts by the administration to manipulate … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court rejects mandamus over Commissioners Court redistricting

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The primary will proceed as scheduled, but the issue could be revisited sometime after the 2022 election. The Texas Supreme Court rejected an effort by Republican commissioners and voters to block Harris County’s recent redistricting plan on Friday, suggesting another … Continue reading →

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Still no Metro redistricting

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Check again in 2031. Growth in western Harris County outside Houston’s boundaries was not enough to tip Metro’s board to 11 members during the 2020 Census, transit officials said “It didn’t occur, so we have the same board composition,” said … Continue reading →

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The state of the state redistricting lawsuits

Posted on December 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

A good update, and a reminder that not all of the action is in federal court. In two cases heard [December 14 and 15], a group of mostly Democratic, Hispanic lawmakers from both chambers challenged the legality of when and … Continue reading →

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The “prison gerrymandering” lawsuit

Posted on December 23, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Of the many lawsuits filed so far over Texas redistricting, this is the one I know the least about. Nearly a quarter of a million people were incarcerated in Texas when the Census was taken last year. When lawmakers redrew … Continue reading →

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Justice Department sues Texas over redistricting maps

Posted on December 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Add it to the queue. The Department of Justice is suing Texas over its new redistricting maps, alleging that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against Latino and Black voters while redrawing the state’s political districts this year. The lawsuit, filed in federal … Continue reading →

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Cracking Asian-American communities

Posted on November 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib explores what the new Congressional maps did to Asian-American communities, mostly but not exclusively in the Houston area. When Texas lawmakers redrew congressional maps following the 2020 census, they split up Asian American populations in both Harris and … Continue reading →

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Redistricting litigation update

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Reform Austin shows that the state’s legal defense strategy against the various redistricting lawsuits is “You can’t sue us!” Because of the clear racial gerrymandering, multiple groups are launching legal challenges under the Voting Rights Act. The state has now … Continue reading →

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ACLU and others sue over new redistricting maps

Posted on November 19, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The count is now seven. Civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging new Texas state legislative and congressional district plans as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders violating both the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. The suit details an … Continue reading →

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Fort Bend County Commissioners Court finishes its redistricting

Posted on November 15, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Things were unsurprisingly partisan, as is the nature of redistricting as we do it. After much confusion, heated discussion, and repeated delays, the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 on Friday to adopt new precinct boundaries. The redistricting map … Continue reading →

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An estimate of the Census undercount

Posted on November 6, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It could have been worse. According to new analysis of the 2020 Census, Texas had the highest undercount of any US state in raw numbers. It’s estimated some 377,000 in the state weren’t included in the count. Nationally, the 2020 … Continue reading →

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A brief update on the Gutierrez/Eckhardt redistricting lawsuit

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

First news we’ve had in awhile. Plaintiff: Democratic state Sens. Roland Gutierrez and Sarah Eckhardt What the lawsuit argues: Ahead of lawmakers’ third special session, two Democratic state senators sued to block the Legislature from redistricting in a special session … Continue reading →

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Fort Bend Commissioners Court redistricting update

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Was supposed to be done this week, but has been delayed. Fort Bend County Judge KP George has thrown a wrench in the Commissioners Court’s posted agenda to hold public hearings and adopt a final redistricting map on Oct. 26. … Continue reading →

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