In 2019, the Supreme Court A ruling that manipulating constituencies for partisan gain was beyond the reach of the federal courts, leaving such allegations to debate at the state level. Electoral manipulation aimed at weakening minority voting power remains illegal under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, but experts are concerned that it may now be possible to disguise a racial manipulator as a partisan.
Most troubling for voting rights groups was the 2013 ruling repealing the pre-clearance clause in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. While pre-clearance has rarely prevented all tampering, experts argue that it created a deterrent and that its absence this year opens the door to abuse.
Postdoctoral fellow Jonathan Servas said: “I’m often awake late at night, unable to sleep, thinking about how bad or aggressive some of those cases are in revoking the Section 5 protection that is no longer in effect. “. at Carnegie Mellon University who teaches gerrymandering. “I can imagine that a A particularly aggressive legislature, where it benefits them, may not ordain provinces for minorities.”
With the Republicans mapping out, Democratic and civilian rights watchdogs will be examining it privately for two district-manipulation tactics commonly known as cracking and bagging. The rift divides the minority community into many different areas to mitigate its impact, and it is often a fear in the cities. Mobilization brings together many minority voters in one district, diluting their public voice in the state, and is more commonly experienced in rural areas.
While weakening minority votes remains illegal, Mr Servas said that without prior authorization, such tactics could be used anyway, and that the resulting legal challenges were increasingly unlikely to be resolved in time to affect the 2022 election.
With the calendar in mind, the Democratic National Redistricting Committee, a group founded by former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., has already begun litigation. In Louisiana, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.
Kelly Ward Burton, president of the group, said she wouldn’t wait. “If and when they do business with the gerrymander, which is what we expect from them, we will be prepared to sue them,” she said. “We will use all legal tools available to us, which includes everything from federal litigation to state-based litigation based on state law.”
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