Louisiana could be the test case for Voting Rights Act

The Washington Post reports that Louisiana’s redistricting effort could be a critical test of how the Obama administration will interpret the controversial Voting Rights Act as it rules on a wave of new redistricting plans. At issue is a racially mixed corner of Shreveport, where a small group of white voters protested loudly that they didn’t want to be part of a majority black district, formed after the Republican-led Legislature redrew the state’s political boundaries. The Legislature drew a line around the community to accommodate them. The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, was designed in part to prevent white lawmakers from diluting the voting strength of minorities with the drawing of district lines. More than a dozen states—including Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas—are required because of their history of racial discrimination to clear their redistricting plans with the U.S. Department of Justice. Some lawmakers in those states, many of which have Republican majorities, say they do not trust the Obama administration to fairly assess their maps. This is the first time since the passage of the Voting Rights Act that a Democratic administration has been in the White House following a decennial census, when state lawmakers redraw local, state and congressional boundaries. For the rest of 10/12 Corridor Weekly, click here.