Mississippi can wait to reset legislative districts that dilute Black voting strength, judges say

JACKSON, Madam. — Mississippi may wait until next year to redraw some of its districts, replacing those where The voting power of blacks is currently dilutedthree federal judges said Thursday.

The decision updates a timeline set by the justices, who issued a July 2 ruling that found districting problems in three parts of the state — a ruling that requires several House and Senate districts to be reconfigured. The justices originally said they wanted to draw the new districts before the regular legislative session begins in January.

Their decision Thursday means that Mississippi will not hold a special legislative election on the same day as the presidential election this November. It also means that current lawmakers will likely serve half of their four-year terms in districts where the justices found that Voices of black voters have been reduced.

The justices wrote Thursday that waiting until 2025 avoids an “extremely tight schedule” for lawmakers to draw new districts, for those districts to get court approval, for parties to hold primaries and for candidates to campaign.

Lawyers for the State Board of Election Commissioners argued that it is impossible to redraw the districts in time for the November elections because tight deadlines to prepare ballotsAttorneys for the NAACP, which sued the state, argued that it is important to quickly redraw districts because holding a special election next year would place a burden on election administrators and create confusion among voters.

Legislative and congressional districts are updated after each census to reflect population changes over the previous decade. Mississippi’s population is about 59% white and 38% black.

In the legislative redistricting plan passed in 2022 and used in the 2023 elections, 15 of the 52 Senate districts and 42 of the 122 House districts are majority Black. That’s 29% of the Senate districts and 34% of the House districts.

The justices ordered lawmakers to create majority-black Senate districts in and around DeSoto County in the northwestern corner of the state and in and around Hattiesburg in the south. They also had to create a new majority-black House district in Chickasaw and Monroe Counties in the northeastern part of the state.

The order does not create additional districts. Instead, it requires lawmakers to adjust the boundaries of existing districts. Multiple districts could be affected — up to a third of those in the Senate and nine or 10 in the House, according to plaintiffs.

Historical voting patterns in Mississippi show that districts with large white populations tend to lean Republican, while districts with large black populations tend to lean Democratic.

In several states, lawsuits have been filed challenging the composition of Congress or state legislative districts Signed after the 2020 census.