The NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday challenging Fayette County’s 2021 election map as racist.
The lawsuit filed in the Western District of Tennessee alleges that the map adopted by the Fayette County commissioner was “selected, at least in part, with the intent to discriminate against black voters, violating the constitutional rights of voter county voters.
“The facts are clear. The maps unfairly targeted the black population of Fayette County,” lawyer John Cusick said at a press conference Thursday. “Black voters make up more than a quarter of Fayette County’s population, but they have zero representatives from 19 members to the All-White County Commission.”
The Fayette County Commission, contrary to its own district change committee and advice from its external counsel, adopted a district change plan without a majority of minority districts. Nation The Secretary’s Guide to Local Rezoning County legislative bodies are needed to consider minority representation while developing new districts.
The committee rejected a plan that includes districts with a population of the majority of Black voting age, effectively diluting the power of black voters to select candidates of their choice, the lawsuit said.
“This map is unfortunate. It intentionally destroys election opportunities for Blackfayette County voters,” said Elton Holmes, president of NAACP Fayette-Somerville Branch. “We believe it is harmful that there is no effective representation for black people in the county. We need advocates who can address community needs, including issues such as schooling, infrastructure and healthcare.”
The filing comes after that The US Department of Justice sued The Fayette County Commissioner Committee in January similarly alleges that the board violated the Voting Rights Act when it adopted the 2021 rezoning plan.
“The lawsuit sends a clear message that Fayette County must remedy these violations and pass through fair and non-racist maps,” Cusick said. “We also honor the heritage of many black voters and community members here in Fayette County.”
Between 1950 and the early 1970s, black residents were forced to move to the city of tents when they were kicked out of the Sharcropper home after registering for the vote. Black residents who participated in the voter registration drive were blocked from purchasing groceries and obtaining medical care. University of Memphis.
The federal government filed two lawsuits in the 1950s and 1960s to protect the rights of black voters.
“Sixty years later, once again, Black voters here have no representatives on the county’s map, and the brave plaintiffs and community members who are with us today respect that legacy (and),” Cusick said.
The lawsuit filed Thursday by the LDF and Donatie Act presents the allegations of the NAACP’s Fayette Summerville branch and five Black Fayette County voters. Fayette County, the County Commissioner, Fayette County Election Commissioner Board, and Fayette County Election Administrator Joshua Tap have been appointed defendants.
“The Fayette County Commission does not meet the needs of black residents in Fayette County,” Woods said in a news release. “Without county commission representatives, our priorities have long been ignored, including concerns about access to resources such as our public schools, economic development, and Bernard Community Center.
The lawsuit seeks to permanently prevent the 2021 map from being used to hold elections, and aims to create a timely “correction map” that includes four “rationally constructed single-member districts with a majority of Black voters.”
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