A select committee of House lawmakers on Monday received a 101 lesson on the basics of redistricting from a university researcher, but focused very little on the recent Supreme Court decision that has the nation and state on edge about partisan gerrymandering and minority voting rights.
“The fundamental purpose of redistricting is equal representation — one person, one vote,” said Joseph “Dallas” Breen, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, the sole presenter at Monday’s committee meeting at the state Capitol. “… Everyone should have equal say.”
Breen with a slide presentation ran through the basic principles of redistricting: population equality, contiguity of districts, compactness, keeping “communities of interest” together, respecting political boundaries such as cities when drawing districts, and complying with federal law.
READ MORE: Mississippi lawmakers launch redistricting process after Supreme Court ruling
Speaker Jason White appointed the 16-member House committee, including only five Democrats, in May. He tasked it with considering current redistricting processes and laws, fairness, transparency and compliance with constitutional requirements. This was on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Callais decision in a Louisiana case that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and protections for majority Black voting districts.
But White and fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann have also created a joint House and Senate committee on redistricting, which is expected to do the bulk of the work of redrawing Mississippi’s legislative, judicial and congressional voting lines post Callais decision. That committee held its first meeting last week, and announced plans to hold hearings across the state later this month through September before making recommendations on new voting maps to the full Legislature.
Regardless, voting rights advocates view both committees with a gimlet eye. They fear leaders in the state Republican majority will seek to undo Black voting rights gains hard won in Mississippi only after passage of the federal VRA and decades of civil rights work to stamp out Jim Crow suppression. Despite having the largest Black population in the country, the state has had relatively few Black elected leaders, including none in statewide office or the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
Since the Callais decision, some GOP leaders in Mississippi and Washington, D.C., have called for heavy partisan gerrymandering, including redrawing of incumbent U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson’s district to help oust him, the state’s only Black member of Congress and only Democrat.
Voting rights advocates held a press conference before the select committee meeting on Monday, and questioned why it even exists.
“Why are we really here?” said Sonya Williams-Barnes, Southern Poverty Law Center’s policy director for Mississippi. “It definitely has organizations such as mine on alert … We just redistricted (legislative seats) last year … I believe in the hearing process and hearing from the public, but that seems like an important part missing so far, hearing from average everyday citizens … Our duty is to ensure that we protect Democracy here in our state.”
Rep. Noah Sanford, co-chairman of the House select committee and vice chairman of the joint redistricting committee, said the House committee is primarily a “study committee.” And he said fear of major upheavals from redistricting are unfounded.
“I would just tell people at this point to keep an open mind,” Sanford said. “Any map passed would have to have 62 votes (in the House). So I don’t expect some major redraw that totally changes districts across the entire state, because we would never get 62 votes to do that anyway. People are generally comfortable with the communities they already represent.”
Sanford said his understanding of the Callais decision is that “maps have to be drawn race neutral.”
“I don’t anticipate major changes (in legislative redistricting),” Sanford said. “… My intention is to try to keep counties together and cities together. There is a small town in my district that I represent half the city, and another member represents the other half of the town. That should not be. That other member lives two counties away. I live 15 minutes away. We need to get rid of that.”
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, like many other GOP governors, after the Callais decision, faced pressure from the Trump administration and others to call a special legislative session and redraw congressional voting maps ahead of Novembers midterm federal elections. But Mississippi had already held its midterm primaries in March, and such a last-minute redrawing now appears unlikely. However, Reeves has indicated he’s likely to call lawmakers into special session by year’s end for state legislative redistricting ahead of next year’s statewide elections.
Hence then, the article about one person one vote house redistricting committee gets primer was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘One person, one vote:’ House redistricting committee gets primer )
Also on site :
- Tim Anderson Announces Retirement
- My Friends Were Shocked When I Booked Virgin Voyages’ 'Party Ship' to The Mediterranean—Here’s Why I’m Never Looking Back
- William H. Macy, Shawn Hatosy and Troy Kotsur Among Astra TV Awards Honorees; Lisa Ann Walter Set as Host