By William Hermann & Joel Rosenblatt | Bloomberg
Republicans seeking to void Arizona’s redrawn voter districts over claims they favor Democrats were presented with a “smoking gun” at trial when a witness testified the plan wasn’t accurate, a lawyer for the Republicans said.
A witness for the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission admitted that a pre-clearance submission of the redistricting plan to the U.S. Department of Justice “just wasn’t right,” David Cantelme said in closing arguments today at the federal trial in Phoenix.
The witness, Stanford University professor Bruce Cain, testified that the commission, in its presentation to the Justice Department, reported the redistricting plan would create six Hispanic districts and one Native American district when in fact it provides for nine Hispanic districts, Cantelme said in court today.
Cain’s admission was the “smoking gun” that proved “bad faith on the part of the commission,” Cantelme said.
(Editor’s note: RLG represents IRC Commissioner Scott Freeman.)
