Mississippi must move quickly on a court-ordered redistricting, say voting rights attorneys

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi should work quickly to fulfill the court-ordered redrawing of some legislative districts to ensure more equitable representation for Black residents, attorneys for voting rights groups said in a new court filing Friday.

The attorneys also said it’s important to hold special elections in the reconfigured state House and Senate districts on Nov. 5 — the same day as the general election for federal offices and some state judicial posts.

Having special legislative elections in 2025 “would burden election administrators and voters and would likely lead to low turnout if not outright confusion,” wrote the attorneys for the Mississippi NAACP and several Black residents in a lawsuit challenging the composition of state House and Senate districts drawn in 2022.

Attorneys for the all Republican state Board of Election Commissioners said in court papers filed Wednesday that redrawing some legislative districts in time for this November’s election is impossible because of tight deadlines to prepare ballots.

Three federal judges on July 2 ordered Mississippi legislators to reconfigure some districts, finding that the current ones dilute the power of Black voters in three parts of the state. The judges said they want new districts to be drawn before the next regular legislative session begins in January.

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