NAACP Drops Lawsuit Over Fayette County Redistricting Map
NAACP Drops Tennessee Lawsuit Over Fayette County Redistricting Map
The legacy of Jim Crow has endured throughout the South and Midwest through racist redistricting efforts intended to dilute the voting power of Black constituents. Tennessee’s redistricting efforts have faced scrutiny over the last few years, particularly in Fayette County. While lawsuits over racist redistricting maps haven’t always worked out, a lawsuit filed by the NAACP over Fayette County’s redistricting map was dismissed this week because the Redistricting Committee actually did the right thing.
According to the Tennessee Lookout, the dismissal came after Fayette County submitted a new map that falls in accordance with the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. The NAACP initially filed its lawsuit in February, alleging that Fayette County’s redistricting efforts were designed “at least in part with the intent to racially discriminate against Black voters.”
From Tennessee Lookout:
The Tennessee Comptroller’s local redistricting guide requires county legislative bodies to consider minority representation when redistricting. Black voters make up more than 25% of Fayette County’s population, but the 19-member county commission is entirely white. The lawsuit stated that the commission chose an electoral map in 2021 that diluted the power of Black voters to elect candidates of their choice.
The commission approved a redistricting plan that had no majority-minority districts — rejecting other plans that included districts with majority Black voting age populations — against the advice of outside legal counsel and the commission’s own redistricting committee.
The U.S. Justice Department sued the Fayette County Board of Commissioners in January, also alleging that the board’s adoption of the 2021 map violated the Voting Rights Act.
Majority Black districts are one of the big sticking points in redistricting efforts. Republicans across the country seem to hate these, considering how often their redistricting efforts minimize, if not outright remove, majority Black districts. This is done to dilute our voting power and prevent Democrats from taking key seats in state legislatures. One need only look at Louisiana, where a redistricting map including eight majority Black districts was struck down by the Republican-led state legislature.
Fayette County’s Redistricting Committee reconvened in April to construct a map with “no less than two majority minority districts.” By June, Fayette County’s Redistricting Committee unanimously approved a new map that includes three majority Black, single-member districts. The map will be used during the 2026 midterm elections.
“This passage of the new map is not just a victory for Black voters, but also a victory for Fayette County,” Christine Woods, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, stated in a press release. “I’m excited about the new map and look forward to the upcoming elections that will take place under a fair map. This is a great opportunity for Black voters to get out and make our voices heard so that we have equal representation on the County Commission.”
Redistricting has long been a source of controversy in Tennessee. During the 2022 midterms, Tennessee’s redistricting efforts resulted in hundreds of votes cast for the wrong races. These errors often occurred in Black communities, as the state’s district map was gerrymandered by the GOP in an attempt to take away a Democratic seat.
The NAACP filed a federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s redistricting efforts, claiming it was an attempt to dilute Black constituents’ voting power. The case was thrown out after the Supreme Court’s ruling on South Carolina’s demonstrably racist voting map set “new, substantial and unjust standards to prove racial gerrymandering,” according to the NAACP.
Given the history of Tennessee’s redistricting efforts and the legal pitfalls that often arise when trying to challenge racist redistricting maps, I’m both glad and surprised the Fayette County Redistricting Committee actually did the right thing for its Black voters.
SEE ALSO:
Redistricting: Majority Black Voting Maps Rejected In Louisiana
