An Important election update

The widespread election confusion borne from Texas' redistricting controversy has finally cleared, and we will soon host our primary election. As you may recall, Texas was originally scheduled to participate in Super Tuesday on March 6. In preparation for this, the Texas Legislature in a timely manner put forth the constitutionally required new district maps for federal and state legislative offices. From there, though, the process took several confusing turns.

After a three judge federal panel determined the legislature's maps to be problematic, they made sweeping changes and pushed the Texas primary to April 3 in order to enact their complete overhaul. Shortly after that, the United States Supreme Court stepped in by placing an injunction on the federal court's action and ruling that there were no grounds to make such dramatic changes to the state's plan. The three judge panel was then ordered to take a more thorough look at the state's maps and to stay much closer to the legislature's intent in the event that they felt certain changes were still necessary. The end product was a third set of maps that adhered to the Supreme Court's instruction and subsequently required delaying Texas' primary until May 29, with early voting to begin on May 14.

By all indications, we now have an election plan to move forward with for 2012. I know that the theatrical twists in the plot have left many people frustrated and perplexed. I am happy to say that we are now able to allow the process to move forward. Furthermore, I am equally happy to report that the makeup of the districts in Denton County were returned back to what your state lawmakers initially put forth in order to address our county's tremendous population growth.

I would like to focus for a moment on our new state house districts, since that is where Denton County experienced the most change and thus benefits from a detailed explanation. Our state house delegation will grow from three representatives to four with the addition of a new seat in Denton County. To accomplish this, the district I represent (District 63) was reduced to the southwest corner of the county, starting in western Lewisville and extending through Flower Mound and most surrounding communities before concluding near Highway 380 just to the west of Denton. The northern areas of Sanger, Aubrey, Krugerville, Crossroads and Pilot Point that I previously represented are now part of the new district (District 106) that will extend south through Frisco, Little Elm and the Colony. The city of Denton continues to anchor a seat (District 64) and will be joined by smaller communities to the southeast along with the additions of Krum and Robson Ranch to the west. Finally, our fourth seat (District 65) has eastern Highland Village, which was also previously a part of my district, combined with the lion's share of Lewisville and our county's portion of Carrollton.

Losing Sanger, Pilot Point, Aubrey, Krugerville, Krum, Robson Ranch, Crossroads and eastern Highland Village is a difficult change for me. I will forever value my time serving as the state representative for these communities. However, constitutionally, my district had to lose more than 50,000 residents and this was the most appropriate way to meet that requirement. Still, in my heart I will always represent their values and interests, and if you are a resident of these areas please know that my door will continue to always be open to you.

As always, it is an honor to serve you in the Texas House of Representatives, and I welcome your feedback on this and any other critical state issues. If you would like to share a thought with me or just need assistance in knowing which house district you reside, please feel free to contact me at my Capitol office at 512-463-0688 or by e-mail at tan.parker@house.state.tx.us

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