Newspaper: Texas Latinos underrepresented in local politics

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A newspaper analysis has found deep patterns of underrepresentation of Texas' fast-growing Hispanic population on city councils and county commissioners courts across the state.

Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, said that while some areas of the state — notably South Texas — have seen sharp rises in the number of Latinos elected to local office, the Statesman's findings show "there is still disparity in your face" across Texas.

Texas laws that have made registering to vote more difficult; redistricting efforts designed to dilute Hispanic influence; and a virtual abandonment by statewide political parties.

Thanks in part to a lawsuit that forced officials to move from an at-large election system to single-member districts, he was elected to the Floydada City Council in 1980.

After the Voting Rights Act was amended in 1975 to explicitly cover Latinos, advocates and lawyers filed hundreds of lawsuits throughout the state challenging voting procedures.

Since joining the commissioners court, she has sought to expand the Latino vote in the Panhandle.