The change in boundaries came at the urging of the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the country’s first civil rights law firm.
“We believe that the city’s current electoral plan may undermine the opportunity of black voters in Florissant to participate equally in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice,” wrote Legal Defense Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill and three other attorneys from the firm in a letter two years ago to Mayor Thomas Schneider.
“We, therefore, write to encourage the City Council to pursue a readily available fair and inclusive approach to elections that complies with the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act and other applicable laws.”
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