Mississippi’s 2022 state legislative districts must be redrawn after a three-judge federal panel declared three districts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The case is Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP v. State Board of Election Commissioners. Read the opinion and order here.
While plaintiffs in this case were suing for an additional four senate districts and three house districts, the court concluded that only two senate and one house district met the requirements for a remedy under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act:
“We find that three of the illustrative senate and house districts reflect minority groups that are sufficiently large and geographically compact enough to constitute a majority in a reasonably configured district.”
The court implied that there was no proof of intentional discrimination -which Section 2 does not require – but the maps did dilute the minority vote in specified areas of the state.
“We find the legislature did not enact an egregiously flawed plan, the equivalent of a political gerrymander of squeezing the minority into as few districts as possible. Yet, we do not find any specific, non-tenuous justifications for why black-majority districts were not created in the three identified areas. We find, therefore, that this factor weighs in favor of the Plaintiffs.”
The court’s decision was based on convincing evidence of polarized voting and other factors preventing Black voters from having an equal opportunity to elect candidates. The Mississippi Legislature will now have an opportunity to redraw the three districts, after which special elections will be held in those districts.
News Coverage:
Mississippi’s Legislative Maps Discriminate Against Black Voters, Federal Court Rules (Democracy Docket)
Some Mississippi legislative districts dilute Black voting power and must be redrawn, judges say (NBC News)
Federal judges order Mississippi Legislature to create more Black districts, may prompt 2024 elections (Mississippi Today)
Federal court orders Mississippi to create more Black districts by 2025, asks for elections (Clarion Ledger)
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