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Presidential Members Report: Implications for Minority Voters in 2001 January, 2001 << Back to Introduction

State-by-State Analysis: Texas

The 1990 undercount and its demographic composition

As indicated in Table 1, the percentage undercount of 2.8 percent in Texas was higher than the national average of 1.6 percent and resulted in a net numerical undercount of 486,028 persons, second highest in the nation. For non-Hispanic whites, Table 1 indicates, the undercount percentage was only 1.4 percent as compared to 5.1 percent for members of minority groups, the vast majority of whom were non-Hispanic blacks or Hispanics. As indicated in Table 2 and the summary chart below, these differences between whites and minorities resulted in an undercounted population with a much greater minority group percentage than that of the state's total population. In Texas, non-Hispanic whites comprised 61 percent of the state's uncorrected population, whereas members of all minority groups combined comprised 39 percent. In contrast, non-Hispanic whites comprised 30 percent of the state's undercounted population, whereas members of all minority groups comprised 70 percent. In numerical terms, the undercount consisted of 147,770 non-Hispanic whites and 338,258 members of minority groups.

Although a majority of minority group members in Texas, as in California, are Hispanic, the minority population also includes a substantial black percentage. According to corrected census data, non-Hispanic blacks are 29 percent of Texas's minority population, Hispanics are 65 percent, and members of other minority groups are 6 percent.

Implications of 1990 Census adjustment for minority voter opportunities

The use of corrected data in Texas for the post-1990 redistricting would have had the potential to enhance minority voter opportunities in the plans drawn for the State Senate and State House. In the Texas State Senate, the use of corrected data would have enhanced minority voter opportunities by increasing the baseline of majority-minority districts against which the next redistricting plan will be measured. State Senate District 15, located in Harris County (which includes the city of Houston) in the post-1990 plan, includes a minority population of 48.9 percent. However, application of the corrected data for 1990 demonstrates that the minority population of this District is more accurately measured at 49.8 percent, which, unlike the district as measured with uncorrected data, can be rounded upward to 50 percent.

The use of corrected data for Harris County also reveals a sufficient number of additional persons, most of them members of minority groups, so that if corrected data rather than uncorrected data had been used in the post-1990 redistricting, State Senate District 15 might have been drawn to include a higher minority percentage than the current district, clearly putting this district above the 50 percent mark. The corrected data in Harris County identified an additional 98,000 persons, 77 percent of whom were members of minority groups. This additional population was more than would have been needed to meet one-person, one-vote requirements in this region, given that the use of adjusted data would increase the size of an ideal State Senate district by some 16,000 persons, from some 548,000 to 564,000.

In the Texas State House, House District 138, also located in Harris County in the post-1990 plan, includes a minority population of 48.6 percent. However, application of the corrected data for 1990 demonstrates that the population of this district is more accurately measured at 49.9 percent, which, unlike the district as measured with uncorrected data, can be rounded upward to 50 percent. As in the State Senate, the use of corrected data in Harris County reveals a sufficient number of additional persons, most of them minorities, so that if corrected data rather than uncorrected data had been used in the post-1990 redistricting, House District 138 might have been drawn to include a higher minority percentage than the current district, putting it clearly above the 50 percent mark.

Given that in Texas there are 150 House districts as compared to just 31 Senate districts, House districts are only about 20 percent as populous as Senate districts. The ideal size of a State House district is about 113,000 persons for uncorrected data and about 116,000 persons for corrected data, a net increase of 3,000 persons. Thus, as compared to Senate districts, there is a much greater opportunity to expand the minority populations of House districts. House Districts 132 (47.2 percent minority), 134 (47.2 percent minority), and 149 (42.7 percent minority), also in Harris County might likewise have been drawn with an enhanced minority percentage through the use of corrected census data. The use of corrected data would also have presented the opportunity to enhance the minority percentage of Dallas County House District 107 (47.6 percent minority). The corrected data in Dallas County identified an additional 59,000 persons, 74 percent of whom were members of minority groups. This additional population was more than would have been needed to meet one-person, one-vote requirements in this region.

 

 CONTENTS: 

Introduction

Summary of Findings

California

Texas

Florida

Georgia

Virginia

North Carolina

Illinois

Maryland

New York

Louisiana

End Notes

Report Home


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