1975-11-17 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

• • Assistant Attorney General Washington, D.C. Page 4 11-10-75 disannexed a protective strip, and did not involve any population. Tract 1 involved the disannexation of a population of an estimated 15 persons, none of whom are believed to be members of a racially identifiable minority group. This annexation was approved by the City Commission of the City of La Porte, at the request of the City Council of the City of Lomax, which has a common boundary with the City of La Porte at this point, in order to enable the City of Lomax to annex the subject territory to its City, so that it might provide water and sewer service to the residents thereof. The matter was handled on a cooperative basis between the two cities, and it is believed that this disannexation of territory by the City of La Porte will not affect local voting patterns to any degree. (5) Bilingual election materials. Under Texas law, voter registration is not handled by cities, but rather, is handled by the individual County Tax Assessor -Collectors. The City of La Porte obtains up-to-date voter registration lists from the County's Tax Assessor -Collector, prior to each election. By State law, elections in Harris County are required to -be con- ducted on voting machines. The City of La Porte rents voting •machines from Harris County for each of its elections. Harris County officials having responsibility for the matter, are be- lieved to be formulating procedures to use with Harris County voting, machines, to meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1975, for bilingual election materials. It is therefore the desire and the request of the City of La Porte, that it be allowed to implement these and like procedures, as to those por- tions of the electoral process over which it has jurisdiction, beginning with the election of April 3, 1976. General Comments. The City Commission of the City of La Porte respectfully requests approval of the above and foregoing submission. Appropriate sup- porting documents and materials are attached hereto, to demonstrate that the subject changes do not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right of anyone to vote on account of race or color. All ordinances attached hereto were passed and approved by the official governing body of the City of La Porte, which is its City Commission, constituted of a Mayor and four City Commissioners. Other than the annexation and disannexation, there is no change which will affect less than the entire City. Certain of the changes occurred prior to the effective date of the Act, and •