Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has launched legal challenges to Georgia’s newly drafted election maps.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that attorneys for the Divine Nine fraternity active in civil rights causes filed objections Tuesday, claiming the maps fail to create more opportunities for Black voters to select candidates for Congress and the General Assembly.
Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp signed new legislative and congressional political maps into law following a federal judge’s ruling that the districts drawn up by the Republican-led General Assembly in 2021 diminished Black voting power, in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Alpha Phi Alpha and other plaintiffs successfully sued the state over the maps. However, attorneys for the Black organization argue that the newly approved maps don’t resolve the issue they were supposed to address.
“The 2023 proposed plans fail to address the vote dilution found by this court after (the) trial,” attorneys wrote in their complaint, AJC reported. “They instead perpetuate it.”
While lawmakers debated the designs last week, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones set a hearing on the new district lines for Dec. 20. Jones claimed that the 2021 maps did not to create appropriate options for Black voters, whose population has increased since 2010, while white citizens have decreased.
If Jones finds that the current Republican redistricting continues to discriminate against Black voters, he has the authority to appoint a mapmaker to revise the state’s boundaries.
In Georgia, Black people overwhelmingly favor Democrats, while white voters overwhelmingly support Republicans.
Republicans claim they obeyed Jones’ directive to construct one new majority-Black congressional district, two new majority-Black state Senate districts and five new majority-Black state House districts.
Democrats, meanwhile, contended that the GOP’s plans fell short of the judge’s decision because they shuffle people around in a way that still denies Black Americans representation.
According to AJC, the revised maps protect Republicans’ 9-5 majority in the state’s House delegation and their control of the General Assembly.
Georgia electoral officials have maintained that districts must be established by the end of January to prepare for next year’s elections.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court may ultimately rule on the case.
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