Voting rights advocates are asking courts to ensure that Texas congressional voting districts will be drawn more fairly before the 2018 midterm elections, reports The Texas Tribune.
The request comes two weeks after a three-judge panel determined that Republican lawmakers had redrawn three Texas districts based on racial discrimination, in an effort to favor their own party. The decision found the districts invalid, but it did not order them to be redrawn. Now, organizations representing the disenfranchised voters have filed a suit to trigger that redrawing effort before another election passes. Plaintiffs in the suit include the Texas NAACP, African American Congresspersons, Mexican American Legislative Caucus and other groups. The plaintiffs are hoping to have the districts redrawn by July. Filing for the 2018 congressional elections begins in November.