Three years after a lawsuit from the NAACP alleged that the 2022 legislative redistricting by the state legislature diluted Black voting power in the state, a federal judge panel has approved a final redrawn map.
The group of judges originally tasked the Mississippi legislature to redraw 10 Senate voting districts and five House districts to more accurately reflect voting demographics.
Both chambers of the state legislature passed plans for new district lines to be sent to the panel for approval. The trio of judges, U.S. Fifth District Judge Leslie Southwick, U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden, and U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan, accepted redrawn Senate districts in the Hattiesburg area and new House districts in Chickasaw County but rejected lines for DeSoto County.
The board was forced to make a new proposal for five Senate districts in DeSoto County after the panel agreed with the NAACP’s contention that Black voting power was still diminished in the north Mississippi districts.
A reconfigured map was passed by the board and sent to the panel last month, making Senate District 2 a majority-minority district, meaning more than 50% of its voting base is not white, while lowering the Black voting base in Senate District 11 while keeping it a majority-minority district.
Final approval was given to that plan on Wednesday in the U.S. Southern District Court of Mississippi.
“Our review of the evidence and controlling legal authorities convinces us that [the State Board of Election Commissioners] plan should be adopted,” a portion of the ruling reads. “We also adopt the slight revision the special elections schedule that all parties have endorsed.”
Special elections will be required in the fall of 2025 to fill seats in the 15 new legislative districts. The schedule for a candidate qualifying window was pushed back seven days after the process ran over the initially proposed start date.
The following schedule was ordered by the court is Wednesday’s ruling:
- May 12 – Deadline to share detailed maps and address libraries with local election officials
- June 2 – Qualifying begins
- June 9 – Qualifying deadline
- June 13 – Deadline for State Executive Committee to submit names of qualified candidates
- June 21 – Absentee voting begins for primary election
- August 5 – Special primary Election Day
- September 2 – Special primary runoff Election Day
- September 20 – Absentee voting begins for general election
- November 4 – Special general Election Day
The redrawn legislative districts include Senate Districts 34, 41, 42, 44, 45 in the Hattiesburg area, Senate Districts 1, 2, 10, 11, and 19 in DeSoto County, and House Districts 16, 22, 36, 39, and 41 in Chickasaw County.
