The Mississippi NAACP contends the Joint Legislative Redistricting Committee is not abiding by the Open Meetings Act. Yesterday, the committee approved a proposed plan for congressional seats called the Magnolia 1 Plan. Lawmakers say the 2020 census shows District 2’s population declined by 9 percent or about 6,000 people. The proposal extends the district, comprised mostly of counties in the Delta, from Tunica County south to the Louisiana line, adding four southwestern counties. Those counites are Adams, Amite, Franklin and Wilkinson which were initially in Congressman Michael Guests' territory, District 3. Corey Wiggins is with the state NAACP,
“The redistricting process has not been an open and transparent process. What we’ve been trying to do is not only engage communities but to engage the committee that allows for more engagement, more transparency, more voices of citizens in this process,” Wiggins said.
The NAACP proposed a plan that Wiggins says would have added a portion of Hinds and southern Madison Counties to District 2 which is in Congressman Bennie Thompson's region. Instead those areas remain in District 3. The organization joined other civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Mississippi Center for Justice, in filing a complaint with the Mississippi Ethics Commission. Republican Representative Dan Eubanks of Walls, is on the joint redistricting committee. He says District 2 is a majority minority district. He thinks it’s a good plan overall.
“And one of the problems you always have to deal with, especially in a majority minority district, is you're not allowed to dilute it. And you have to remain contiguous with the existing districts so this plan takes that into account and keeps everybody kinda held even,” Eubanks said.
Three African American legislators on the joint redistricting committee voted no to the plan.
Every 10 years after the census is done, the legislature is required to redraw districts based on growth or decline in population. Some of the requirements also include Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act; which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in one of the language minorities groups cited in the Act. Also districts must be contiguous or border one another.
In a statement yesterday, Congressman Bennie Thompson says he supports the Mississippi NAACP redistricting plan and accuses the Standing Joint Legislative Committee of gerrymandering. He says that a precinct currently in District 2, is being split between 2 and District 3. And Thompson says four counties were added to District 2, so that the Northeastern corridor of the state stays in District 3. Thompson adds his district is already the largest congressional one by square miles.
The redistricting committee says District 2 is more than 280 miles long.
Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann also released a statement Wednesday, saying nine meetings were held across all regions of the state to hear from citizens about the map. He says for the first time all the hearings were webcasted and archived in the interest of accessibility and transparency.
The NAACP says the meetings were held before the 2020 Census data was available to analyze and use in discussions with lawmakers.
Representative Dan Eubanks says the committee is also working on the state's House and Senate redistricting map. Both redistricting plans will be taken up during the 2022 legislative session.
