In Harris v. DeSoto County, LDF asserted that the current DeSoto County, Mississippi, electoral map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) by diluting the power of Black DeSoto County residents.
All five current county voting districts were drawn to maintain majority-white representation. None of the 25 county offices are currently held by a Black representative, even though the Black population has grown from 12% to 36% since the 2000 Census. These offices include the Board of Supervisors, Board of Education, Election Commissioners, Justice Court judges, and constables. Many Black candidates have tried to run forthese offices, but not a single one was elected in the past 20 years.
The current voting map adopted in 2022 splinters Black population centers, denying Black voters any opportunity to elect preferred candidates. This denial of full and equal voting rights causes irreparable harm. Black DeSoto citizens are greatly underrepresented in county jobs, their schools are under-resourced, and there are continuing gaps in education, income, and health care outcomes between Black and white DeSoto County communities.
Democracy is on the line in Mississippi — DeSoto is now one of only 11 counties in Mississippi without a Black supervisor, leaving its Black residents with zero representation in local government. They deserve to have a say in the political process. Full and free participation in elections should be the bare minimum – not a lofty goal.
Black voters can elect candidates of choice when their voting power is undiluted. DeSoto County residents were able to elect a Black candidate, Theresa Gillespie Isom, to the Mississippi State Senate in 2025, after a similar lawsuit forced the creation of a new Black-opportunity Senate district in DeSoto County.
A fair map that allows full representation of DeSoto County’s electorate will protect DeSoto County’s families and communities.
LDF, along with the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, the ACLU of Mississippi, and voting rights attorney Amir Badat, filed the lawsuit in September 2024, on behalf of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., DeSoto County NAACP and two individual DeSoto County residents.
Learn how LDF is fighting for fair maps and protecting access to the ballot box across the country.
In DeSoto County, Black residents are long overdue for fair representation in their local government. And LDF is working with local clients to finally secure it.
The maps drawn during the redistricting cycle determine the allocation of political power and representation at every level of government across the nation for at least the next ten years.
