LULAC thinking about filing lawsuit against TDP

Austin-- Update:  You can see the video of the story on the ABC13 website.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) told me today that it's considering filing a lawsuit against the Texas Democratic Party.   LULAC's national general counsel Louis Vera told me that he believes the caucus process disenfranchises the state's Latino voters.  Although the caucus numbers between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are not final yet, LULAC has been contemplating the lawsuit for a few weeks.

"We had reports all night long and this morning of many, many people who couldn’t stay there anymore," says Vera.  "It was 9:30, 10 o'clock and they haven’t even begun to vote."

Vera is also concerned that because the Primary allocates delegates based on turnout of the previous election, a vote for delegates  in San Antonio or south Texas is actually worth less than a vote out of Houston or Dallas. LULAC isn't officially allowed to endorse anyone, but Vera and a number of high ranking officials within the organization support Clinton.

Vera says a decision will be made about the lawsuit when all the caucus numbers roll in, which could take a few weeks.  "What we are considering is whether or not there are violations of the Voting Rights Act, " he says. "I’m not sure if all the changes in the caucus system has been pre-cleared by the Justice Department."

I called the Texas Democratic Party today, and spokesperson Hector Nieto says he did not hear about the rumblings of a lawsuit until I called him.  "When you put a million people across the state in a caucus, off course you’re going to have problems," says Nieto.  "there will be people waiting, there will be people crammed into small rooms... All I can say is that this system was put into place for participation by all, and judging by the turnout, we  had an equal opportunity for people to participate."

Vera says if they are filing a lawsuit, it will be done before the state Democratic Convention.  He also says this is not about Clinton or Obama. It's about whether or not the voices of Latino voters are heard.

Comments

[Chris Burnette]

This makes sense. If I vote in one county, and caucus in the same, my vote and my caucus vote should be worth as much as a voter in another locale -- regardless of turnout in years prior. I don't often agree with LULAC but on this they are dead on!

[Russ]

No one can caucus until everyone signs in for their presidential preference. It took us 1 hr and 15 min to sign everyone in a Dallas County precinct. We had 239 people sign in. We told everyone that if they wanted to caucus for their candidate, they had to wait until everyone signs in to determine the size of their caucus. Then we could allocate delegate seats to the appropriate candidate, and they could start caucusing. Obama got 62% of the delegate seats, Clinton got 38%. Not everyone for Clinton stuck it out to ensure they got enough seats. It takes ganas to caucus. And the Obama people had more of it in my precinct. If Obama wins more delegates than Clinton, it is because of ganas. This suit by LULAC appears to be sour grapes on behalf of the Clinton campaign in Texas.

[Allen]

What garbage! Where was LULAC when the rules were set? Of course it is Clinton's people trying to change the rules after they were totally out organized by the Obama grassroots effort. It's a party caucus with the rules set years ago, no one is disenfanchised if you showed up for the caucus and, of course, delegates should be apportioned by precincts, districts and counties that supported Democrats in the last general elction. IT IS A DEMOCRATIC PARTY CAUCUS!!!!

[Gawania Spigner]

One form of gerrymandering, packing, is to place as many voters of one type into a single district to reduce their influence in other districts. This definitely happened last night in Texas and is one thing that cannot be disputed. We have not forgotten one of the political tricks used long ago. The reason for last night caucus crime was that voters of Obama type were all sent to or PACKED into single locations to vote. As many as 8 precincts assigned to single voting locations causing overwhelming crowds. The other trick was the old change the location at the lastminute. I remember learning about this in history. It is 2008 and I never thought I'd see such tactics renewed and gotten away with. We were still waiting for the voters to clear out to start caucus when Hill good ole Goldwater Girl was being declared winner** remember Goldwater who stood on the steps of the school with maybe a gun to stop the N---from coming in.He was against Civil Rights but Hillary supported him worked in his presidential campaign in the 60s, and refers to him as admired??** She identifies herself as a Goldwater Girl on her website. If you are voting for her do you really know what she stands for? Google Barry Goldwater code State Rights. I am tired ofthe Clintons, they have fleeced the blacks and now they are back for the hispanics.

[AR]

Gawania Spigner said - "remember Goldwater who stood on the steps of the school with maybe a gun to stop the N---from coming in."

How stupid are you??? That was Alabama Governor George Wallace not Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Get your facts straight

[MJSamuelson]

This may be the only time, EVER, that I will agree with Hector Nieto, but sheesh people! Tuesday night was unprecedented. No one was prepared for the kind of turnout they got. "Staying up late" is not an excuse to go and sue the party (heck, I had to wade through hundreds of Democrats, put up with process junkies reciting Roberts Rules of Order, and didn't get home until midnight - I don't plan to sue the Republican Party of Texas over it).