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"It is a state law, that inmates eligible to vote be given the right to do so," said TCSO spokeswoman Kristen Dark, adding that TCSO was already in compliance with the law. But Dark says the sheriff and the voter registrar are working on a plan to get inmates registered to vote. "The sheriff and Bruce Elphant have been working together for quite a while, trying to look at that and see if there's anything we can do better," she said. Sheriff Sally Hernandez and Elphant were is discussions about inmate voter registration last year, but the topic was shelved...

Segment on conflict about campaign cash to air on CBS Sunday night. By Laylan Copelin AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday, March 06, 2005 CBS' "60 Minutes" found Tom DeLay's tormentor and his defender in Central Texas. Tonight, the network will air its story about DeLay and Texans for a Republican Majority, the political action committee at the center of a controversy over how Republicans and their business allies spent corporate money in the pivotal 2002 legislative elections in Texas. Correspondent Lesley Stahl interviews Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle about his investigation of the committee, and U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock,...

Minority activists air complaints about proposed redistricting AUSTIN (AP) — Minority activists and elected officials testified Wednesday that a Republican-drawn congressional redistricting map could hurt the political progress black and Hispanic Texans have made over many years. "I think it's probably going to set us back maybe 20, 25 years," said Deralyn Riles Davis, a black political activist from Tarrant County. "The people are going to be discouraged." Attorneys for the state say Republican legislative leaders were trying to craft a congressional map for partisan gain, and that race was not a predominant factor. They dispute claims by Democrats and...

Compliments Delay for being effective With a court challenge hanging in the balance, Congressman Lloyd Doggett is running -- and running hard -- in the newly drawn Congressional District 25, which stretches from South Austin down to the Rio Grande Valley. Doggett has announced he will run in the newly constituted CD 25, the only Democratic-majority district left in Travis County. And while Travis County will likely end up being the largest county in the nation without its own Congressional district, that’s not sufficient grounds for a panel of federal judges to declare the map illegal. "This map is clearly...

Lawmakers go to courts Both sides file actions over redistricting feud AUSTIN (AP) — The heated battle between Democrats and Republicans over congressional redistricting moved to the courts Thursday with both sides in the Senate stalemate pressing their cases. Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, both Republicans, made a filing in the Texas Supreme Court asking that the boycotting Democratic senators be ordered back to work. The 11 Democrats, who are holed up in an Albuquerque, N.M., hotel, filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court asking that state officials or their deputies be prohibited from arresting them...