By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Star
Arizona’s 30 legislative districts need to be redrawn before the 2014 election, an attorney for Republican interests contends, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that voided a key section of the Voting Rights Act.
In legal papers filed in federal court late Friday, attorney David Cantelme said the Independent Redistricting Commission’s data show that it overpopulated some of the districts and underpopulated others.
The result was to politically disadvantage Republican candidates, he said.
Cantelme also pointed out to the three-judge panel that the commission’s key legal argument for why it made those decisions was that it needed to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.
Commissioners wanted to ensure that the map it drew was “precleared” by the U.S. Justice Department and didn’t dilute the voting strength of minorities.
