A meeting will be held today in Shreveport to decide how to finalize the state’s congressional map after the most recent one was thrown out in court. After three years of back and forth, NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney Jared Evans is disappointed with the ruling.
“But it’s not devastating to our position because all this said is that it can’t be this particular configuration. So, the court didn’t address the issue of whether there should be two majority Black districts,” said Evans.
Evans said he and other interested parties will attend the meeting and begin the remedial process.
“Where we look to see what type of map we’re going to have because currently there’s no map. As hard as that is to believe we literally do not have a congressional map,” said Evans.
Evans said the court will give their opinion on how the map will be decided. He said there are several options on the table, for example, they could appoint a special master to draw the map.
“They could accept a map that’s submitted by one of the parties to the case, or they could theoretically, even though I don’t think there’s enough time, they could give the legislature a third crack at passing a map,” said Evans.
The timeline is tight with a Secretary of State deadline of May 15th so candidates and voters will know their district lines for the fall election. Evans believes there’s a possibility that the deadline will be pushed.
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