Current:Home > MyMississippi election officials argue against quick work on drawing new majority-Black districts -TradeGrid
Mississippi election officials argue against quick work on drawing new majority-Black districts
View
Date:2025-04-17 23:52:41
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Redrawing some Mississippi legislative districts in time for this November’s election is impossible because of tight deadlines to prepare ballots, state officials say in new court papers.
Attorneys for the all-Republican state Board of Election Commissioners filed arguments Wednesday in response to a July 2 ruling by three federal judges who ordered the Mississippi House and Senate to reconfigure some legislative districts. The judges said current districts dilute the power of Black voters in three parts of the state.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2022 by the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and several Black residents. The judges said they wanted new districts to be drawn before the next regular legislative session begins in January.
Mississippi held state House and Senate elections in 2023. Redrawing some districts would create the need for special elections to fill seats for the rest of the four-year term.
Election Commission attorneys said Republican Gov. Tate Reeves would need to call legislators into special session and new districts would need to be adopted by Aug. 2 so other deadlines could be met for special elections to be held the same day as this November’s general election for federal offices and state judicial seats.
“It took the State a considerable period of time to draw the current maps,” the Election Commission attorneys said.
The judges ordered legislators to draw majority-Black Senate districts in and around DeSoto County in the northwestern corner of the state and in and around Hattiesburg in the south, and a new majority-Black House district in Chickasaw and Monroe counties in the northeastern part of the state.
The order does not create additional districts. Rather, it requires legislators to adjust the boundaries of existing ones. Multiple districts could be affected, and the Election Commission attorneys said drawing new boundaries “is not realistically achievable” by Aug. 2.
Legislative and congressional districts are updated after each census to reflect population changes from the previous decade. Mississippi’s population is about 59% white and 38% Black.
In the legislative redistricting plan adopted in 2022 and used in the 2023 elections, 15 of the 52 Senate districts and 42 of the 122 House districts are majority-Black. Those are 29% of Senate districts and 34% of House districts.
Jarvis Dortch, a former state lawmaker who is now executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said the federal judges were correct in ordering revisions to the House and Senate maps.
“Those legislative districts denied Black Mississippians an equal voice in state government,” Dortch said.
Historical voting patterns in Mississippi show that districts with higher populations of white residents tend to lean toward Republicans and that districts with higher populations of Black residents tend to lean toward Democrats.
Lawsuits in several states have challenged the composition of congressional or state legislative districts drawn after the 2020 census.
veryGood! (35)
Related
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Sofía Vergara Proves Less Is More With Glamorous Makeup-Free Selfie
- U.N. approves sending international force to Haiti to help quell gang violence
- Russia launches more drone attacks as Ukrainian President Zelenskyy travels to a European forum
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Seahawks' Jamal Adams apologizes for outburst at doctor following concussion check
- Julia Ormond sues Harvey Weinstein for sexual battery along with Disney, CAA and Miramax
- Pope Francis: ‘Irresponsible’ Western Lifestyles Push the World to ‘the Breaking Point’ on Climate
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Earth is on track for its hottest year yet, according to a European climate agency
Ranking
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- EU countries overcome key obstacle in yearslong plan to overhaul the bloc’s asylum rules
- Charmin changes up its toilet paper, trading in straight perforations for wavy tears
- Brian Austin Green was bedridden for months with stroke-like symptoms: 'I couldn't speak'
- Small twin
- A German far-right party leader has been taken to a hospital from an election rally
- Only 19 Latinos in Baseball Hall of Fame? That number has been climbing, will keep rising
- 2023 on track to become warmest year on record: Copernicus report
Recommendation
Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
'Why they brought me here': Twins' Carlos Correa ready for his Astros homecoming in ALDS
Morgan State shooting erupted during dispute but victims were unintended targets, police say
Director of troubled Illinois child-services agency to resign after 5 years
Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
Judge blocks 2 provisions in North Carolina’s new abortion law; 12-week near-ban remains in place
'It's going to help me retire': Georgia man wins $200,000 from Carolina Panthers scratch-off game
Jersey Shore town sues to overturn toxic waste settlement where childhood cancer cases rose