BOR: DoJ Issues Temporary Restraining Order in BISD Trustee Election Based On Section 5 Of VRA

BOR: DoJ Issues Temporary Restraining Order in BISD Trustee Election Based On Section 5 Of VRA:

DoJ Issues Temporary Restraining Order in BISD Trustee Election Based On Section 5 Of VRA by: Joe Deshotel Wed Apr 10, 2013 at 05:35 PM CDT

On Wednesday, a District Court in D. C., at the behest of the Department of Justice, issued a temporary restraining order postponing the May 11th election of Beaumont Independent School District Trustees. The DoJ will have 60 days to review the plans that could disenfranchise a majority of minority voters in 3 of the 7 single member districts. The Department of Justice had stepped in based on the fact that the new plan has not been precleared under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). This situation is a perfect example of why Section 5 still has relevance today -- it reeks of an intentional effort to subvert voters, and in effect, reduces minority representation.Among the noted objections defined in the DOJ letter to BISD were: -The shortening ("truncating") of the terms of three incumbent minority trustees without informing the public. -The elimination of staggered terms for members of the Board of Trustees. -The failure of the state court's order to reopen the candidate filing period after its decision--such would have allowed incumbent participation and/or the public to engage in the electoral process. For a complete timeline of events with citations you can look here. The 3 challengers whose name would appear "unopposed", on the ballot (should the May 11 election be held) lost by huge margins to the current incumbents with the closest election being a victory with 62% of the vote. Those incumbents were unaware that after redistricting they must file for reelection even though they were only in the 2nd year of a 4 year term. This was a fact known to the challengers' attorneys but only shared with the one white board member who was elected in 2011. That member failed to share this information with his colleagues. The one white