Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, and the Limestone County Branch of the NAACP sent a second letter and a proposed redistricting plan (Appendix A) to the Limestone County, Alabama Commission. The letter sent today provides additional information to the previous letter the groups sent on Tuesday, October 26 expressing opposition to the Commission’s current redistricting plan that would likely diminish the voting strength of Black voters and other voters of color in the County. LDF’s letter and redistricting plan includes relevant demographic information from the 2020 census and maps that would ensure Black voters and other voters of color have a meaningful opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, and participate in the political process.
2020 census data clearly shows that Limestone County’s Black population has grown twice as fast as its white population in the past decade. Meanwhile, Black voters’ preferred candidates in District 3 have been increasingly competitive and able to garner significant electoral support under the 2010 plan. Yet maps drawn by the Commission would reduce the Black population in District 3 by over 1,500 people from 20% to 17% which is clearly at odds with the 2020 census data. To do this, the Commission’s maps remove 26% of District 3’s Black population, while removing only 12% of the district’s white population. In other words, under the Commission’s proposal, a Black person living in District 3 is more than twice as likely as a white person to be drawn out of the district. Moreover, there appears to be little reason for drawing the lines in a way that reduces the Black population in District 3 other than an intent to reduce the electoral influence of District 3’s Black voting community.
LDF’s proposed redistricting plan would maintain the Black voting-age population of District 3 at 20.4%, requiring changes only to Districts 3 and 4. LDF’s letters and enclosed maps are consistent with federal requirements, and would ensure that Black voters have a real chance to elect candidates of their choice and meaningfully participate in the political process. Limestone County has an obligation to draw maps that comply with the U.S. Constitution’s equal population mandate, the Fourteenth Amendment’s ban on the unjustified use of race as a predominant consideration in redistricting, and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which forbids racially discriminatory vote dilution.
Read the letter and LDF’s proposed redistricting plans here.
Read more about LDF’s redistricting work in Alabama 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.
