Voting rights advocates monitoring Mississippi legislative redistricting

By Ivory Phillips

JA Contributing Editor

This past Monday, a coalition of civil rights proponents, community organizers, and state legislators held an 11:30 a.m. news conference in the State Capitol Building. Attending were more than 20 members for the rapidly assembled event, which was held a little over an hour ahead of a closed meeting of the House Select Committee on Redistricting.

The news conference was capably presided over by Lydia Grizzell, and featured four other contributors from across the state. The focus of the conference was on fair and adequate representation in the state legislature, as plans seem to be in the works for a redistricting effort, led by leaders of the Republican Party.

The four speakers reiterated that the matter of legislative representation is crucial in determining laws or policies made that deal with everyday things such as the cost of energy, healthcare, criminal justice, educational quality and opportunities, and economic development. Each speaker advanced the idea that all groups and communities need to be adequately represented or have their voices heard around the table as decisions affecting the entire state are made.

The matter of trust and transparency were emphasized, especially given that Republicans have a nearly iron clad, super majority in each chamber of the legislature, they are the ones pushing for redistricting, they have shared no maps or other proposed data with the public or fellow law-makers, and the select committee to do the work is headed by them.

More than a few of the coalition members stated that townhall meetings have been held by their groups in Clarksdale, Meridian, and other parts of the state. These meetings were held to hear from citizens on the matter of protecting and expanding voting rights, as many Republican-dominated legislatures engage themselves in early redistricting efforts. The expressed preference of the coalition was to delay redistricting until the next regularly scheduled time, which would be following the 2030 census, rather than rushing to redistrict now and have to return to this matter again in 2030.

The coalition members pointed out there was nothing in the Callais decision requiring immediate redistricting. They also expressed the opinion that if and when redistricting take place, then there must be no diminishing of Black representation. Otherwise, there will be court action. One state representative even promised that, if necessary, the Democrats would draft a proposal to reflect the will of the majority of the people.

The news conference drew staff from the major television outlets in the area as well as from local print media. That was a testimony to the fact that redistricting is a likely occurrence and that it is a crucial topic of broad interest.