Please try another search
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An American flag sign is seen on a voting booth at Madison Square Garden, which is used as a polling station on the first day of early voting in Manhattan, New York, U.S. October 24, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
By Daniel Trotta and Joseph Ax
(Reuters) -A U.S. court rejected on Monday the Alabama legislature's redrawn U.S. congressional district map for November elections, saying it likely violated the Voting Rights Act and stood to deny Black voters an additional representative.
The ruling, which can be appealed, addresses an issue of contention between the two major political parties, in which Democrats accuse Republicans of exploiting their relative strength in state legislatures to diminish Black voting power.
U.S. states must redraw congressional lines once a decade to reflect shifts in population. In most states, lawmakers control redistricting, which can lead to one party manipulating district lines to entrench its power.
In Alabama, African Americans make up 27% of the population, but ethnic minorities have a majority of voters in only one of the state's seven congressional districts. That district, concentrated around the city of Birmingham, is held by the Democratic Party and the other six by Republicans.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama found that the Republican-dominated state legislature should have drawn the district lines to give minorities a majority in a second district, or at least a better chance of competing.
"The appropriate remedy is a congressional redistricting plan that includes either an additional majority-Black congressional district, or an additional district in which Black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice," the judges said in a 225-page ruling.
The court postponed an upcoming candidate qualification deadline until Feb. 11 to give the legislature time to redraw the lines.
Control of the closely divided U.S. House of Representatives will be at stake in the Nov. 8 elections.
Many Democrats have complained Republicans use redistricting and voter access laws to suppress Black voters, as African Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Republicans contend restrictive voter access laws are meant to prevent fraud.
In New York state, where Democrats control both houses of the legislature and the governor's office, it is the Republicans who accuse the Democrats of unfairness.
New York's bipartisan redistricting commission has failed to reach consensus on a new congressional map, ensuring that the state's Democratic lawmakers will redraw district lines.
Republican commissioners said the Democrats deliberately refused to negotiate ahead of Tuesday's deadline "so that the determination of district lines would be tossed back to a legislature controlled by Democrat super-majorities."
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.