"A judge on Friday ordered special elections for the Mississippi Supreme Court after earlier finding that the electoral map used to select justices violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in August ordered Mississippi to redraw the map, which was enacted in 1987, concluding the current configuration dilutes the power of Black voters. The Friday ruling gives the Mississippi Legislature until the end of its 2026 regular session to redraw the map."
"The order follows a 2022 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued the current map cuts Mississippi's Delta region a historically Black area in half, diminishing the Black vote in the Central District. "Mississippi is nearly 40% Black, but has never had more than one Black Justice on the nine-member Court," Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, wrote in a statement. "We couldn't be happier to see justice on the horizon.""
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ordered special elections for the Mississippi Supreme Court after finding the 1987 electoral map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black voting power. The Mississippi Legislature has until the end of its 2026 regular session to adopt a new map, and the court will set deadlines to hold special elections in November 2026 once a plan is approved. Aycock will defer deciding which seats face special elections until after redistricting. The order stems from a 2022 ACLU lawsuit alleging the map splits the Delta, weakening Black votes in the Central District. Appeals and related federal litigation continue.
Read at www.npr.org
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