Hi [NAME],
The council requests and obtains election data from the counties and the Texas Secretary of State for use in the redistricting systems it maintains for the Texas Legislature; the data is used to model/estimate results for current and proposed legislative, congressional, and State Board of Education districts during the redistricting process. For that purpose, the data is allocated to census blocks and aggregated to larger units of geography, including VTDs (voter tabulation districts), which are close approximations of county voting precincts. By approximating county voting precinct boundaries using whole census blocks, election data can be associated with census population data, and the data can be modeled for current and proposed districts drawn with whole census blocks. The council attempts to collect all of the election data used for this purpose at the precinct level, but for various reasons (unavailability of precinct-level data during a collection period, unavailability of precinct level data for limited/provisional/overseas ballots, unusable data formats, etc), county level results may be utilized for the redistricting database when absolutely necessary.
The initial reports produced by the council with 2020 election results were prepared with county-level data from Maverick County. The Maverick County results included on these initial reports were based on county-level data that had been allocated to 2010 census blocks and aggregated to larger units of geography (including VTDs). Results aggregated to the VTD-level in Maverick County from this initial dataset would be unlikely to reflect actual precinct-level returns but would sum up correctly at the county level and above.
Following the Census Bureau's release of the 2020 Census PL 94-171 population data for redistricting in August 2021, the council updated the redistricting database with 2020 general election voting precinct approximations based on 2020 census blocks and reallocated its collection of 2012-2020 election data to 2020 census blocks. At that time, the council updated the database with 2020 general election precinct-level results obtained from Maverick County. All subsequent council reports, including those produced during the 2021 redistricting process have included 2020 general election results for Maverick County at the VTD level that are in line with the precinct-level results reported by the county.
The council's collection of election data for redistricting is not represented as the source for official results; official results should always be obtained directly from the counties/and or Secretary of State. County officials and the Secretary of State are the sources of record for election data in Texas.
The council's Data for Redistricting in Texas publications (2011 and 2021 versions) include more information about the council's allocation process and redistricting data.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Regards,
[NAME]
[JOB TITLE]
Redistricting and Data, Research Division
Texas Legislative Council
[PHONE NUMBER]