A federal judge struck down a voting map that erased the only majority-minority county in Galveston, Texas, saying officials violated the rights of Black and Latino voters by not giving them an “equal opportunity to participate in the political process,” and giving officials a week to redrew a new map.
Galveston went from having one majority-minority district to having none after commissioners redrew ... [+]
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown ruled Republican county commissioners who adopted the map committed a “stark and jarring” violation of the Voting Rights Act when they drew the Galveston County electoral map in 2021, changing the voting districts for county-level elections.
In the ruling Brown, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said the redistricted map amounted to an “egregious” discrimination against Black and Latino residents of Galveston County.
The redrawn map had distributed the Black and Latino population among four newly drawn precincts that Brown said diluted minority voters and erased the only majority-minority district; before the ruling three of the four precincts historically elected white Republican commissioners and the fourth elected Black Democratic commissioners.
During the case, defense attorney Joseph Russo said the map was drawn the way it was because delayed census data forced officials to rush the map and that it was not racially discriminatory but designed to favor Republicans, which is not illegal.
“This is not a typical redistricting case,” Brown said in the ruling. He added, “The enacted plan denies Black and Latino voters an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and to elect a candidate of their choice.”
The county has been given until October 20 to file a revised redistricting plan that includes at least one majority-minority district of the four.
38%. That’s the percentage of eligible voter population in the county who are Black and Latino, according to the ruling.
The U.S. Department of Justice, local NAACP and LULAC chapters and a group of former and current local office holders each filed individual lawsuits over the summer alleging Republicans on the Galveston County Commissioners Court intentionally discriminated against Black and Latino voters during the redistricting process. The three lawsuits were then combined into one. The plaintiffs were said to be concerned the county could lose its only Black commissioner, Stephen Holmes, who has been in office since 1999, according to The Guardian.
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