Texas Town Considers At-Large District Plan Accused Of Suppressing Latino Vote

The Mayor of the Houston suburb of Pasadena, Johnny Isbell, is proposing to swap two of the town’s single-member districts for at-large districts -- a voting system being challenged by Hispanics across the country who say the system makes it harder to elect Latino candidates.

The proposed change comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the requirements that certain states pre-clear alterations to their voting systems with the Department of Justice, as the widely read Texan blog Burnt Orange Report notes.

Looking Ahead, Latino Voters See A Choice Between Disappointment And Menace

Kevin Solis, a third-generation Mexican-American from Los Angeles, describes himself as a "poster child for the Democratic Party." One of his uncles was a founder of the Brown Berets, an activist group that protested police brutality in L.A. and marched with Cesar Chavez, and his mother rarely said the word "Republican" without prefacing it with a swear.

So it says something about the depth of Solis' disappointment with President Obama that he is thinking of voting Republican in the next election.

As much as he loathes the harsh immigration policies and rhetoric espoused by many on the right, he is dismayed by the President's record on the economy and of all things, immigration.

And as a volunteer for groups that work with young undocumented immigrants, he says he has spoken to many young Latinos who share his ambivalence. "When I ask them about Obama, the first reaction is a sigh and an eye roll," he says. "And then they say, 'Well, I guess he’s got to be our next president.' "