Two North Carolina voters filed a lawsuit against a new redistricting map in the state, arguing that it “deprives” black voters.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Eastern Division against the North Carolina State Board of Elections, challenged Senate Bill 758. It alleged the bill violates the Voting Rights Act.
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“Despite having ample evidence of racially polarized voting and a history of discrimination in the ‘Black Belt counties’ of northeastern North Carolina, and an obligation under the Voting Rights Act to analyze that evidence before drawing districts, the North Carolina General Assembly adopted a Senate plan that unlawfully deprives Black voters of the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice,” the court filing read.
“SB 758 is just the most recent episode in North Carolina’s ‘long history of race discrimination generally and race-based vote suppression in particular,'” it added.
The filing also alleged a historical conspiracy among white voters to prevent black candidates from being elected.
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“Voting is highly racially polarized in the region of the Black Belt counties,” it read. “Black voters there are politically cohesive and overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates. The white majority in the surrounding area is also politically cohesive, overwhelmingly supports Republican candidates, and historically votes as a bloc to defeat Black voters’ candidates of choice.”
A similar conflict over redistricting has engulfed Alabama and went to the Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and demanded that the map be redrawn to include multiple majority-minority districts.
