Racial inequity leads to special election in DeSoto County

[RandySF]

HERNANDO, Miss. - A court ruling designed to give more racial equity in the Mississippi State Senate elections takes effect Tuesday, August 5. It's a special election ordered by a judge who sent lawmakers back to the drawing board because majority minority districts were stripped of their voting power. But it does not affect every voter in DeSoto County.

The redistricting impacts four state senate voting districts here in DeSoto County and those voters go back to the polls Tuesday. The president of DeSoto County's chapter of the NAACP says they took the State of Mississippi to federal court over redistricting because the old lines were drawn in such a way that it stripped voters of power in some districts, where minorities are the majority, to elect people who represent that majority in their district.

Robert Tipton, Jr. is President of the DeSoto County chapter of the NAACP, says they went to court to restore voters' power at the polls in state senate races, "The NAACP sued the state of Mississippi over the district lines. It started out with District 2, where they drew the line so that it disadvantaged what was a majority minority and took that away with no more minority majority.“ said Tipton, adding that it's what lead to the special election next week, “The kicker is because they had to redraw District 2, then there was an imbalance. So you had to redraw district one. You had to redraw District 4. And you had to redraw District 19," Said Tipton.

In addition, the chair of the DeSoto County Election Commission says it caused the creation of a brand-new district for state Senate representation: District 11.




https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/racial-inequity-leads-to-special-election-in-desoto-county/article_5543a61b-f789-47e4-9daa-88a611292f9e.html