LDF and Donati Law, PLLC filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of five individual Black voters and the Fayette-Somerville Branch of the NAACP challenging the racially discriminatory Fayette County, Tennessee County Commission electoral map passed in 2021.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution prohibit racial discrimination in voting. Governments cannot draw maps that deny Black voters the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice or in a way that intentionally dilutes their voting power.
The Fayette County Commission allocates funding and makes important decisions about public schools, economic development, environmental policies, resources like community centers, and other critical policies and resources that impact quality-of-life issues for Fayette County residents. Without fair representation and fair maps, the needs and priorities of Fayette County’s Black community have been ignored.
On June 24, 2025, Fayette County lawmakers unanimously passed the new County Commission electoral map, which complies with Section 2 of the VRA and Constitution. The new map creates three new majority-Black single-member districts that provide Black voters with the opportunity to elect candidates of choice to the County Commission. The new map will be used in the 2026 election cycle, the first in years that Black communities in Fayette County will have an equal voice when participating in the democratic process.
LDF succeeded in convincing county lawmakers to pass a new map that provides fair representation to Black voters, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) declared victory and voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit challenging the illegal and unconstitutional 2021 map of the Fayette County, Tennessee Board of County Commissioners.
NAACP Fayette-Somerville Branch v. Fayette County, Tennessee asserted that the Fayette County Commission map created during the 2021 redistricting process is racially discriminatory in violation of Section 2 of Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The map dilutes Black voting power and denies Black Fayette voters an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the County Commission.
The County Commission deviated from its guidelines to protect minority voters’ opportunity to elect their preferred candidates and failed to heed its legal counsel’s public warnings that failing to draw districts comprised of a majority-Black voters, in light of current voting patterns and other barriers facing Black voters, could expose Fayette County to legal liability. The County Commission also rejected alternative proposed plans that respected its guidelines and would have mitigated the racially discriminatory impact that community members and some County Commissioners repeatedly raised.
Instead of passing a fair, non-racially discriminatory County Commission map, Fayette County lawmakers enacted a map designed to dilute Black voting power. Even though more than 25% of Fayette County residents are Black and substantial numbers of Black voters live in geographically compact areas, none of the ten districts are majority-Black and none of the County Commissioners are Black or Black-preferred candidates. The demographics, voting patterns, and other ways that Black voters experience life in Fayette County make clear that the current map is discriminatory and denies Black voters equal opportunity to participate in the political process.
The new map passed in July 2025 creates three new majority-Black single-member districts. The new map will be used in the 2026 election cycle, the first in years that Black communities in Fayette County will have an equal voice when participating in the democratic process.
LDF has filed litigation, testified in state legislatures, submitted proposed maps, mobilized communities, and more to ensure Black voters have an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
This piece explores how three states with discriminatory maps have shirked their responsibilities to their constituents, paving the way for the passage of oppressive legislation.
Understanding the role of race in the redistricting process as a means of ensuring equitable representation and political power is critical.
