The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) is reaffirming its longstanding commitment to protecting voting rights and ensuring every eligible citizen has fair and equal access to the ballot box. NBCSL’s resolution, Protecting the Right to Vote for All Citizens, underscores voting is a fundamental democratic right that must be protected. However, the decisions in recent court cases surrounding redistricting across the nation are in direct opposition to that resolution. Those decisions leave voting rights and representation vulnerable to partisan Gerrymandering laws that can disproportionately harm Black people and communities of color.
The Supreme Court’s back-to-back rulings this Spring have all but gutted what remained of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Governors and state legislatures in Southern states, where more than half (24 to 26 million) of the Black American population resides, are now undoing previous redistricting maps to gain greater partisan advantage.
In June, the Supreme Court reversed its three-year-old ruling that required Alabama to create a second district where Black voters could prevail. Now, Alabama can use a congressional redistricting map that favors Republicans and eliminates one of the two existing districts where voters had elected a Black Democrat to Congress. In April, the justices ruling permitted Louisiana to implement a new map that eliminated the seat of one of the state’s two Black Democrats in Congress. Tennessee has already enacted a new map that splits up the city of Memphis into three congressional districts to cut the state’s only Democrat in Congress. Florida, North Carolina, and Texas have already redrawn their maps to add Republican districts and may draw them again before the 2028 elections. Georgia and Mississippi are also likely to redraw districts for the 2028 elections.
These decisions have ripple effects on local elections, municipal governments, and voters’ voices:
- Voter Confusion
- When the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map in April, the state postponed the U.S. House primaries to enact new district lines. This happened just days before in-person early voting was set to begin. The announcement came well after tens of thousands of absentee ballots had been cast. State officials then said even though those ballots would feature congressional races, those votes would not count.
- In Tennessee, the 2022 redistricting cycle contributed to voter confusion in Nashville. Election officials confirmed some voters were assigned to the wrong congressional district and cast ballots in the wrong race following the redrawing of district lines.
- Absentee Ballots
The delays caused by redistricting court cases can affect the votes of Americans who live abroad and/or serve in our military. Absentee voting typically begins 30 to 45 days before Election Day. However, if printing vendors are given late revisions to ballots, that can push back the time absentee voters receive their ballots. Those delays threaten the legal distribution timelines mandated by state and federal laws, such as the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
- Taxpayer Cost
Redistricting can also carry steep administrative costs that affect state budgets. This August, Alabama will hold a special primary election to determine partisan candidates in four congressional districts that have been altered. It will cost taxpayers an additional $4.45 million to hold August’s special election, according to Alabama’s legislative fiscal office.
As landmark decisions surrounding redistricting continue to impact voters, NBCSL remains steadfast in its belief that safeguarding the right to vote is essential to protecting justice, representation, and democracy.