The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, and the Huntsville-Madison County Branch of the NAACP sent a letter to the Madison County, Alabama Commission regarding its unmet obligations under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Commission’s current districting plan, with its combination of six single-member districts and one at-large position, likely violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, because it fails to provide Black voters with an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. Under this structure, Black voters only have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to one of the seven seats on the Commission Approximately one-fourth of the County’s voting-age population is Black, but under the current structure, but the current structure makes it nearly impossible for Black voters to elect their preferred candidates to six of the seven seats on the Commission. With redistricting underway, the letter urges the County to develop an electoral structure for the Commission that complies with the U.S. Constitution’s equal population mandate and ban on racial discrimination in redistricting, as well as Section 2’s protections against racially discriminatory vote dilution. In addition, the Commission must publicize its redistricting schedule, ensure transparency in the map-drawing process, and provide information on opportunities for public participation.
Read the full letter here.
Read more about LDF’s redistricting work in Alabama and other key states here.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
