Vote Centers Coming To Collin Co. For Election Day This November?

Updated Saturday Aug. 1, 2009 4:55AM
Over the last few years several states have already or are seriously considering implementing consolidated Vote Centers on Election Day - and now, after taking a pass on it in 2006, the idea has again come to Collin Co. In mid-July Collin Co. notified the Texas Secretary of State that the county wants to be selected to join Texas' ongoing Vote Center trial program. (also see previous post 'Consolidated Polling Centers Coming To Collin Co. Next Election Day?')

Late in the 2009 legislative session the Texas legislature passed HB719, which amends Section 43.007 of the Texas Election Code to require the Texas Secretary of State (SOS) to implement a program that allows Commissioner's Courts in selected counties to eliminate election precinct polling places and establish county-wide Vote Centers for certain elections.

These Election Day Vote Centers work almost exactly like Early Voting Vote Centers. During the early voting period for each election cycle, a number of polling places appear through out the county and any registered voter in the county can vote in any of those places throughout the early voting period.

The change from precinct voting places to Vote Centers won't happen immediately or throughout the state. First, the SOS is going to expand the Vote Center pilot program by selecting a few more counties to join the two counties already in the pilot program.

HB 719 states that the SOS can only select three counties with a population more than 100,000 people and two with populations less than 100,000. Additionally, those counties who want to be added to the trial program must also have converted to electronic voting and have electronic poll book systems networked via the Internet to qualify voters at the Vote Centers.

Lubbock will be one of the three larger population counties and Erath County will be one of smaller population counties in the program, as both counties have already participated in the initial pilot project testing the concept of consolidating polling locations into vote centers.

Once in the Vote Center program HB 719 allows counties to incremental decrease in the total number polling places by up to 35 percent of the polling places in the first year and up to 50 percent of the polling places in the second year of the plan.

Bottom line, by August 28th the SOS will select two additional larger counties and one smaller county to expand the experimental Vote Center trial program.

In mid-July the Collin County Elections Administrator applied to be one of those larger counties selected by the SOS to join the program. The Elections Administrator notified the SOS that Collin County intends to submit a plan, by the August 15th application deadline date, to implement countywide Election Day Vote Centers this coming November. (see SOS scheduled and plan requirements at end of this blog post)

Erath and Brewster counties in the smaller county category and Collin, Galveston, Grayson, Lubbock and Midland in the larger county category have applied to the SOS to join the program. All of the counties applying to join the program must submit their complete vote center plan to the SOS no later than August 15th to be considered during the selection process. A maximum of five counties total will be selected to participate in the expanded trial Vote Center program, no matter how many counties apply. (Galveston County is likely to be one of the larger counties selected by the SOS, because so many of their regular precinct polling locations were wiped out by Hurricane Ike. Galveston County would seem to have a very practical need to utilize Vote Centers in the coming election.)

The SOS will, by August 28th, select the two additional larger counties and one smaller county to join the Vote Center Program. The selected counties must then forward their Vote Center plans to the U.S. Dept. of Justice for pre-clearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 for their approval to proceed with the program expansion.

After the Collin County Commissioners Court held a brief public hearing on July 20, 2009 to take public comment on the Elections Administrator's Vote Center proposal, the Commissioners authorized the Administrator to proceed with the Vote Center planning process.

Due to the concern expressed by the public during the public hearing and a request that community input be allowed during the planning process from Shawn Stevens, the newly elected Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Collin County, the Commissioners instructed the County Elections Administrator to form a community planning committee.

The planning committee will participate in the planning process to properly locate, equip and staff Election Day Vote Centers for the November 3, 2009 election. The eight person Community Planning Committee formed by the Elections Administrator includes the following voting members:

1. The GOP County Chair - Fred Moses
   
2. The Democratic County Chair - Shawn Stevens
   
3. The Libertarian Party Chair -
   
4. Early Voting Ballot Board Judge - Neal Katz
   
5. Central Count Station Alt. Judge - Bill Baumbach
   
6. Advocacy, Inc. representative - Staff Attorney Dustin Rynders of Austin
   
7. LULAC Representative - Rick Gonzalez
   
8. NAACP Representative -
   

The first community planning committee meeting was held on Monday July 27, 2009. The next planning meeting is scheduled Monday, August 3, 2009, at 7:00 pm in the Commissioner’s Courtroom in the Jack Hatchell Administration Building in McKinney.

The following meeting will be on Thursday August 6, 2009 - time and place TBD.

Though the efforts of Shawn Stevens, the new chairperson of the Democratic Party of Collin County, Dr. Robert M. Stein of Rice University in Houston will attend the August 6th meeting to speak to the planning committee.

• Dr. Stein is an expert on urban politics and public policy and teaches political science at Rice University. Dr. Stein has been researching how Voting Centers affect overall voter turnout behaviors and has recently addressed conferences and co-authored papers on this topic. (See pdf-Engaging the Unengaged Voter - Vote Centers and voter turnout | List of Dr. Stein's publications)

Under the provisions of a Voting Center program there are many fewer than usual Election Day polling places, but each Election Day Vote Center acts like the Early Voting Vote Center, now familiar to many Collin County voters, where any county resident can vote at any Vote Center polling place.

Two key arguments are made in support of Vote Centers:

Pros and Cons

Convenience PRO: Voters have more choices about where to vote. CON: If the sites are not distributed evenly, problems may arise for voters who cannot travel longer distances due to lack of access to transportation. Efficiency PRO: Staffing and equipment needs are reduced if counties use a smaller number of voting locations. CON: Long lines could be a problem if too few poll workers are scheduled or too many voters arrive at one vote center simultaneously. Planning & Administration PRO: Fewer people showing up at the wrong polling places means fewer headaches & fewer provisional ballots for voters and elections officials alike. CON: Vote Centers can make it harder to plan for individual Vote Center traffic. Too few voting booths or electronic check-in computers or technical problems with either can cause long delays for voters.

1. First, historically, voters are assigned to vote at precinct polling places according to their residence address on Election Day. This is often inconvenient for voters, especially those who work some distance way from where they live, to return to their home precinct on Election Day. Holding elections at countywide polling locations would not only ease the burden on voters.
   
   It is argued that Vote Centers will increase turnout by freeing voters to cast their ballots at a number of locations convenient to where they work and shop instead of limiting them to one precinct polling place in their neighborhoods.


2. Second, there are assertions that Vote Centers will reduce the governmental costs of administering elections because fewer poll workers will be required to staff Vote Centers than the more numerous neighborhood-polling places.

Vote Centers were first tested in Larimer County, Colorado in 2003 when 143 precinct polling places were converted into just 22 Vote Centers. The center locations, mostly in urban settings, were chosen for their convenience to work and shopping, the availability of large parking facilities, and accessibility for the disabled.

To "qualify" voters entering the Vote Center election clerks used an electronic poll book application running on laptop computers which were linked, via the Internet, to a central election office computer poll book database of all registered county voters.

As Vote Center election clerks verified each voter as "qualified to vote," the electronic poll book software updated that person's central poll book database record to show that person had voted in the election. This electronic poll book voter qualification and check-in process prevents voters from casting ballots at multiple Vote Center locations.

The electronic poll book software also specified what "ballot style" to give to each voter. Since Larimer County voters could go to any of the county's 22 Vote Center locations each voter had to receive a ballot that included the correct list of candidates for their particular residential location.

For example, in the November 2008 election Collin County, Texas had over fifty unique ballot styles to cover the various combination of U.S. Congressional Districts, State House and Senate Districts, Judicial Districts, County Commissioner Districts, and so forth for each resident of the county.

Because Larimer County officials properly planned their Election Day Vote Center strategy they were able to report that their 2003 experimentation with Vote Centers yielded an increase in voter turnout, a reduction in the number of poll workers needed to manage the election and satisfied voters:

The centers have been a huge success, said Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle. Voters can cast ballots at any Vote Center in the county, as long as they can prove they are a registered voter. Doyle said each center has up to eight [electronic poll book voter qualification] registration computers when the doors open and that more are immediately brought in if there is a crush of voters [at a particular Vote Center location.] "We try and move people through like a checkout line at Albertsons," Doyle said.

Accessible voting places with ample parking and sufficient poll workers quickly check-in and help voters had a significant and positive effect on voter’s rating Larimer County's Vote Center experiment.

The 2003 Larimer County Vote Center pilot project was such a success that Colorado expanded the Vote Center program statewide for the 2006 general election. Unfortunately, many Colorado counties did not plan their 2006 Election Day Vote Center strategy as well as Larimer County planned for the 2003 election:

The Denver Post newspaper carried the headline, Vote Centers "A Total Fiasco": Vote Centers were designed to make casting ballots easier and more convenient, but on Tuesday, they produced jangled nerves, technological gaffes and long lines across Colorado.
. . .From urban Denver to suburban Douglas County to rural Routt County, there were long lines at Vote Centers. . . .Douglas County voters may have been hit the hardest, as some lined up more than four hours for a chance to cast a ballot.
. . .Denver voters faced two to three hour waits at the city's 55 Vote Centers. . . .Among the problems [causing the delays] were having only four or five [electronic poll book check-in] computers at a Vote Center to check-in hundreds of voters.

Rocky Mountain News carried a headline Ballot Bedlam: Voters at many of the city’s new 55 voting centers have been encountering long lines, computer problems and an inadequate number of computers to check proof of voter registration. . . .there were not enough workers to check identification cards.
. . .Denver election officials rebooted the whole computer system shortly after 1 p.m. in hopes of keeping the servers from crashing throughout the afternoon.
. . .At about 2 p.m., election officials sent 30 more [electronic poll book check-in] laptop computers to some of the most heavily used polling centers.
. . .By 3 p.m., election officials had sworn in 85 to 100 new election worhers; some city employees, others, private citizens. Those with election experience were working polling machines. Those who had no experience were asked to greet voters and hand out sample ballots.

Clearly, studied advanced planning to properly locate, equip and staff Election Day Vote Centers has tremendous impact on how well they serve voters on Election Day. However, little academic research has been conducted to explore the full effects of Vote Centers on overall voter turnout or voter turnout from specific segments of the electorate.

The few studies so far conducted indicate that accessibility to Vote Centers does have an impact on turnout among various segments of the population. Vote Center utilization has a modest positive impact on turnout among younger voters, infrequent voters and those who have not yet developed the voting habit. There are also some indications that Vote Centers, at least initially, may have a negative impact on turnout among older voters, voters who have historically strong voting habits of always returning to the same polling location, minority voters and lower income voters. As yet the full extent and causes for these voter turnout observations are not understood.

Because the Collin County Elections Administrator waited until mid-July to announce an intention to implement Vote Centers for the election this November, many people associated with the Democratic Party of Collin County are concerned there is not enough time to prepare a studied plan to properly locate, equip and staff Election Day Vote Centers by November 3rd. Neither is there enough time to adequately inform voters that they must go someplace different than their usual home precinct polling place to vote on November 3rd.

The Collin County Elections Administrator states her believe that the 2009 November general election presents a good opportunity to test Vote Centers because the election will be a very low turnout election with only Texas Constitutional Amendments on the ballot. That may or may not be the case depending on exactly when Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns her senate seat this fall, to focus on her gubernatorial campaign against Gov. Perry for the March 2010 primary election, and what Gov. Perry decides to do in calling either a special or emergency election to fill the senate seat.

Gov. Perry has said he might expedite the date of the special election to replace Sen. Hutchison as soon as possible after her senate resignation because too many important things are going on in Washington, D.C. [StarTelegram blog, July 29]

Related Posts:

• Sen. Hutchison Says Will Resign Senate Seat In Oct or Nov.
• Consolidated Polling Centers Coming To Collin Co.

Related Links:

• Countywide polling places back for consideration.
• Public hearing scheduled for Countwide Vote Center plan
• Analysis of Consolidated Voting Precincts
• The Debate over Polling Places
• Election Day Vote Centers and Voter Turnout pdf
• Polling Places and Vote Centers pdf (eac.gov)
• A Study of Vote Centers pdf (State of Indiana VC Study)
• Vote Centers History (larimer.co.us/elections)
• The effects of Election Day vote centers on voter experiences pdf
• Lubbock County Steps To Develop Vote Centers Slide Presentation pdf
• Texas Politics - Voting, Campaigns and Elections
• Location, Knowledge and Time Pressures in the Spatial Structure of
  Convenience Voting pdf

Proposed SOS schedule for implementing HB 719 for November 3, 2009 election: July 15, 2009-Deadline to provide notice of intent to participate to the Secretary of State. August 15, 2009-Selected counties must submit plan (items 1-3 above) for the program to Secretary of State by this date. August 25, 2009-Deadline for SOS to approve proposed local plans for the program and provide detailed guidance on the information that will be requested from the Secretary of State and that will be included in the final report after each election held under the program. The counties will be required to submit this information to the Secretary of State no later than 30 days after the election. September 4, 2009-Deadline for selected counties to submit local countywide program for pre-clearance with DOJ if countywide election precincts will be used at November 3, 2009 constitutional amendment election. December 3, 2009-Deadline for county clerk/elections administrator to submit report on local countywide program to Secretary of State. January 1, 2010-Deadline for Secretary of State to submit report on countywide program to Legislature.

The written implementation plan submitted to the SOS by August 15th must include how the county will comply with the following requirements: Statement of Minimum Eligibility Requirements. The county plan must state that the county uses only DRE voting equipment, has access to a computerized voter registration list at each polling place to immediately record voting history, and has conducted the applicable public hearing. Public Hearing Transcript. A transcript or electronic recording of the public hearing(s) in which voters were informed to the plan and opinions were solicited from voters, minority organizations, and other interested parties as described above, must be submitted. Methodology for Selecting Countywide Locations. A county that wishes to participate in the program must adopt a methodology to determine the placement of the countywide polling places. For an election held in the first year in which the county holds an election under the program, the total number of countywide polling places may not be less than 65% of the number of precinct polling places that would otherwise have been used in that election. For subsequent elections, this number drops to 50%. (We believe that the legislative intent is that a county must establish locations in 65%of the existing county election precincts.) Notice and Outreach Plan. The county must develop a plan for providing notice and informing voters of the program and of the changes made to the locations of election day polling places that will occur. The county must solicit input from organizations that represent minority voters. At a minimum, an election day notice must be posted at each precinct polling place that was used in the last general election for state and county officers but will not be used in the election under this program which indicates the location of the nearest countywide polling place. Submission to the U.S. Department of Justice. Participation in the program represents a change in voting that must be precleared with the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") under Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act. DOJ will probably review the proposed number and locations of the countywide polling places to determine whether they could have any discriminatory effect on the basis of race or language group. Joint Elections. Local political subdivisions may hold a joint election with a participating county. Remember that state law requires local political subdivisions using the November uniform election date (excluding certain water districts and other districts created pursuant to Section 52, Article III or Section 59, Article XVI of the Texas Constitution located within Harris County or counties bordering Harris County) to use the regular county polling places in the county election precincts that contain territory from their elections. Political subdivisions in participating counties would need to have a presence at each of the countywide polling places at which its voters would be eligible to appear, either through a joint election with the county or conducting its own polling place at each of the locations. Counties that wish to participate in the program will need to demonstrate that the details of local joint elections have been resolved or at least that the governing bodies have agreed that they will resolve such issues. Polling Place Officials. While Section 43.007 does not explicitly address the question, we believe that the election officials at each of the countywide polling places would need to be appointed according to the same list procedure as Election Day judges and clerks to the extent possible. Again, counties that wish to participate in the program will need to demonstrate that the county commissioners court and the county chairs have resolved how polling place officials will be appointed. Written Report. Section 43.007(j) requires the Office of the Secretary of State to me a report with the Legislature concerning the program, including a recommendation on the future use of countywide polling places on January 1 of each odd-numbered year. All counties that participate in the program will be expected to contribute their specific findings after each election held with countywide precincts, which will be included in the report.

Sen. Hutchison Says Will Resign Senate Seat In Oct. Or Nov.

Update Thursday July 30, 2009 3:55PM
Gov. Rick Perry's campaign has created a new YouTube video criticizing Republican challenger U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, for Wednesday's discussions of when and if she will resign from the Senate.

Update Wednesday July 29, 2009 8:55PM
CQ Politics: First, she [U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison] told a Texas radio interviewer that she intends to resign her seat in the Senate. [Radio Interview Transcript at Houston Chronicle ]

In Washington a short time later, Hutchison said she might stay in the Senate through next year's gubernatorial race and really didn't intend to indicate a change in her anticipated timetable.

Hutchison said her comments were meant to convey that she believed Gov. Rick Perry might -- and maybe should -- drop out of the race, given that it was "pretty unprecedented to have a governor trying to serve 15 years."

In other words, she was nudging Perry to step out and clear the field for her.

Hutchison said she likely would formally announce her intention to run for governor over the August recess but that the announcement would not specify for sure her intentions about remaining in the Senate.

<-------------- Credibility Kay??? ------------>

Original post date Wednesday July 29, 2009 2:55PM - U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told a Dallas radio talk show host earlier today that she will resign her Senate seat in October or November. Hutchison told host WBAP host Mark Davis that she would like to stay in office while running for governor, but she cannot so long as fellow Republican Gov. Rick Perry remains in the contest. [Transcript of Radio Interview at Houston Chronicle ]

Gov. Rick Perry holds a 12-point lead over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in advance of the March 2010 Republican primary election, according to a poll conducted last month by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Many politicos are saying that Perry's 12-point lead is not as significant as it might seem, given the UT Austin poll also found that one-third of the likely voters say they remain undecided or would choose someone else. Still the big swing from a 56 percent to 31 percent lead Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison enjoyed over Gov. Rick Perry among likely Republican voters just last January can't be totally dismissed.

So, what happens to KBH's senate seat after she resigns? Texas could have a special election as soon as November 3, 2009, or as late as May 8, 2010 depending on exactly when KBH resigns and what Gov. Perry decides to do in calling either a special or emergency election to fill the senate seat.

When Sen. Hutchison does resign, Gov. Rick Perry will appoint a temporary replacement to U.S. Senate until a special election can be scheduled. Some have speculated that Gov. Perry will be looking to appoint a strong well known person to the senate seat that will give him a big boost among the conservative Republican base that he is counting on to win again Hutchison in the 2010 March primary election. Some have speculated that Perry may well decide that appointing Texas Lt. Gov. Dewhurst to temporarily fill the senate senate will give him that boost.

Dewhurst has the personal wealth to self-finance his own campaign with millions of dollars; An important consideration for a candidate that might need to make last-minute media buys in every Texas media market at a moments notice on a 30 day special election campaign cycle.

Unlike most other states, Texas only allows the Governor to make a temporary appointment to fill the senate seat until he can order a special or emergency election. Six people are now in the starting gate to run for Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat when she does resign to focus on her gubernatorial campaign. Whether or not Gov. Perry does in fact appoint Dewhurst, some Texas politicos believe the Lt. Gov. will join the special election race. (Lt. Gov. Dewhurst isn't amending and cleaning up his fund filings just for the fun of doing it!) (DMN 9/11/09 - The Texas secretary of state - a Perry appointee - projects it would cost $28 million to $30 million to hold a special election, including $10 million for a likely runoff.)

Candidates now in the starting gate pictured below: (Left to right) Houston Mayor Bill White (D), former State Comptroller John Sharp (D), Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams (R), State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R), former Secretary of State Roger Williams (R) and Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones (R)

Pictures from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Texas' special election procedure has no party primaries, but lists all candidates, regardless of party, on the same ballot. The two Democrats and four Republicans that have so far announced plans to run for Hutchison's vacated senate seat will appear together on the special election ballot. If no candidate gets fifty percent of the vote in the special election, the top two finishers, regardless of party, participate a runoff election, generally within 20 to 45 days after the final canvass from the special election.

After a ceremonial bill signing of House Bill 3 at R.L. Turner High School in Carrolton Gov. Perry said he might move up the date of the special election to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison because too many important things are going on in Washington, D.C. [StarTelegram blog, July 29]

A short fast election announced at the last minute would give Gov. Perry's appointed interim senator a distinct advantage. Perry's appointed interum senator will get a burst of local texas and national media attention simply by getting selected by Perry and sworn in as a U.S. Senator. And, don't you just know the newly minted senator will show up on one or more Sunday morning news programs by special election day.

Candidates like Dewhurst or former State Comptroller John Sharp, who already has statewide name recognition and the personal wealth to self fund their campaign also has an advantage. A quick election will leave all the other candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike, gasping for political air in the scramble for attention in a 36-day campaign and election cycle.

Voters, unprepared for a quickly called election, probably won't even know what's happening until the election is over. This will be a distinct advantage for a Republican like Dewhurst because the die-hard religious conservative base will turnout their voters while everyone else is trying to figure out who to vote for and where they should go to vote on that special election day.

Confusion over where to vote in a quickly called November or December special senate election could be made even worse in Collin Co., given the county's plans to implement one-time experimental "consolidated voting centers" for the November 3, 2009 regular general election. [see Consolidated Polling Centers Coming To Collin Co. This November]

Such a coup in getting a conservative Republican elected to the U.S. Senate through 2012 would certainly give Gov. Perry a boost in his primary election against Hutchison.

Texas Election Code and Special Elections:

Texas only allows the Governor to make a temporary appointment to fill the Senate seat until he can order a special election on the next uniform election date after the office vacancy occurs, on the provision that uniform election date falls at least 36 days after the governor orders the special election.

If Hutchison resigns on or before September 28, 2009, Gov. Perry will order a special election for the next uniform election date in 2009, which is November 3rd.

[Section. 204.005 and Section 203.004 of the Code require that a special election be held on the first uniform election date occurring at least 36 days "after an election is ordered," which in this case is September 28, 2009.]

If Hutchison resigns after September 28, 2009, but before December 31, 2008 Gov. Perry would order the special election to occur on the March 2, 2010 primary election date.

[If a vacancy occurs in an even numbered year (2010 in this case) on or before the 62nd day before the spring primary date (which under Section 41.007 will be March 2, 2010), then Section 204.003 requires that the unexpired term be filled at that next general election date. Since there are 61 and not 62 days between January 1, 2010 and the March 2nd spring primary date, Hutchison would have to resign by December 31, 2008 in order to have the senate special election occur on the March 2nd spring primary date.]

[Texas Election Code Sections 2.025, 3.003, 41.001, 41.007, 201.023, 201.051, 203.004, 203.011, 203.003, 204.003 and 204.005]

Alternatively, the vacancy could be filled by a special "emergency special election" called by Governor Perry. Under Section 41.0011 of the Election Code, the Governor has authority to schedule an "emergency election" on any date that the governor deems necessary. For example, if Sen. Huchinson resigns early enough in October, the Governor could still order an emergency special election for the 2009 November 3rd general election date. Such a last minute emergency election order under sec. 41.0011 for November 3rd would seem to be contrary to the sec. 204.005 and sec. 203.004 "36 day" special election rule, but one never knows what Gov. Perry might decide. However, Gov. Perry could still order an emergency special election for later in November or December or anytime up to the 2010 primary date. Under the Texas election code the election can happen on any day the governor pleases.

To call a special "emergency election" the Governor must declare that an emergency exists such that warrants the earlier voting date. The Governor has considerable discretion in deciding whether to call an emergency election, and in the last four years Gov. Perry has ordered at least two emergency elections: the emergency election of February 25, 2006 to fill a vacancy in House District 106, and the emergency election of January 17,2006 to fill a vacancy in House District 48.

Since Texas started selecting its U.S. Senators by popular election in 1916, there have been just four temporary senate appointments and special elections fill a vacancy. The temporary appointee has never won a subsequent special election - twice because the appointee didn't run. Of the two appointees that did run, Democrat William A. Blakley lost to Republican John Tower in 1961, and Democrat Robert Krueger lost to Republican K. B. Hutchison in 1993.

• Houston Chronicle: Why it makes little sense for Hutchison to resign to run for governor - August 03, 2009

I'll Just Say No To Judge Sotomayor, Says TX Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison

Updated For New Video Wednesday July 29, 2009 11:58 PM

Sen. Hutchison Breaks Promise, Opposes Sotomayor

Original Post Tuesday July 28, 2009 8:02 PM
Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison joins Texas Sen. John Cornyn in opposition to Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. [Houston Chronicle]

Hutchison announced Tuesday that she would vote no on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor when the full Senate holds Sotomayor's confirmation vote next week. Sen. Hutchison expressed concern about Sotomayor's statement at a Duke University law school forum four years ago that legal “policy” was made by federal appeals courts. “I believe judges should interpret the law, not make it,” Hutchison said in a statement issued late Tuesday.

(KERA audio) At a Dallas press conference, Sen. Hutchison blamed illegal immigrants for making Texas the national leader in uninsured residents while bashing Pres. Obama's Healthcare reform, presumably to bolster her credentials with the far right conservative base. But hospital officials and state statistics don't back her up. Sen. Cornyn also opposes Pres. Obama's Healthcare reform.

Conservatives like Hutchison and Cornyn continue to press their so called "strict constructionist" constitutional argument, that judges, like Judge Sotomayer, who make decisions based on "constitutional principles" carried in the words, rather than application of the exact words, written in the constitution are liberal activist judges who legislate from the bench.

Of course, the Constitution, as written, does not prohibit, in exact word, a legislative body at the state or federal level from segregating schools as separate but equal "white only" and "black only" institutions, but the Supreme Court did find such laws unconstitutional in the court's 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision. In Brown the court found that the language of the constitution defines principles that segregation deprives segregated citizens of their equal protection under the "due process of law" as granted in the 14th Amendment. So Brown was a case where the judges "made law."

The GOP is on the record as opposing the court's finding that the language of the constitution defines a principle that American citizens have a general "right of privacy" to be left alone without government intrusion. The court's 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut "right of privacy" finding is the decision that legalized the sale and use of birth control pills and other contraceptive options in the United States. The court's "right to privacy" finding also gives parents the right to home school or send their children to private school. Griswold is another case where the judges "made law."

When Republican Senators like Cornyn and Hutchison say they oppose judges who "make law," they state their opposition to the court's so called "activist" decisions on a broad range of social rights that include child rearing, procreation, interracial marriage, contraception, private and home schooling rights and civil rights equality.

Related Post:

• Conservatives Say No Right To Privacy