Redistricting Battle Continues; Recall Date Could Be Affected

Commissioners Court took up the topic again Monday of congressional redistricting and the fight to try and keep Fort Bliss part of an El Paso voting district instead of a San Antonio district.

Commissioners Court voted to authorize the county attorney to continue monitoring legal activity regarding redistricting and take the position of ensuring that Fort Bliss remain completely within District 16 instead of San Antonio’s District 23.

The previous congressional map has Fort Bliss completely within District 16. But the new interim map, which could be adopted by the Supreme Court on January 9, shows part of Fort Bliss and West El Paso in District 23.

Commissioners spent more than two hours discussing what to do about the shuffle of voters before deciding to let the county attorney’s office monitor the situation and fight for Fort Bliss.

“I have yet to hear a reason why we should advocate to keep it separate,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said. “I see no downside to trying to keep the Texas portion of the military installation in District 16.”

During Monday’s meeting, another issue with redistricting came up involving the April 14 city recall election.

Currently the primary elections are scheduled for April 3, just 11 days before, although that could change if the redistricting map changes again. If it doesn’t change, County Elections Administrator Javier Chacon said the date of the recall election will have to change.

“At this point in time, everything is at a standstill,” Chacon said. “We cannot say, ‘Yes, we’re going to be able to do it’ or ‘No, we’re not going to be able to do that election’ until we have something more after the courts meet and they decide on some final maps for the state.”

ABC-7 spotted several recall leaders at the courthouse Monday talking to Chacon about the situation. Chacon told ABC-7 that 11 days in between elections is just not enough time for his staff to get everything ready, including the machines. Chacon said they need at least a month in between the primaries and the recall election to make sure early voting doesn’t overlap.