The ACLU of Arkansas sued state officials Wednesday over a redistricting map for the state House of Representatives, arguing that the plan dilutes the voting strength of Black residents.
At issue in the federal lawsuit are the new House district boundaries approved by the GOP-controlled Arkansas Board of Apportionment, a three-member board tasked with setting new legislative maps based on information from the U.S. Census every 10 years.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, which filed the litigation on behalf of the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, says the plan thins Black voting influence and violates the Voting Rights Act.
Redistricting maps have received national attention in recent months, and multiple states, including Texas, have been sued over their redistricting plans. The U.S. Department of Justice, arguing that Texas' plans discriminate against minority voters, filed a lawsuit against the state earlier this month over that state's redistricting maps.
In the Arkansas case, plaintiffs are asking the court to enjoin Arkansas from using the maps for state House elections, setting up a legal fight months before the boundaries are set to be put to use.
"There is a national movement to suppress the African American vote," said Kymara Seals, policy director for the Arkansas Public Policy Panel.
The organization submitted a map to the Arkansas Board of Apportionment that would have accurately represented the Black population in Arkansas, she said.
"We were very disappointed with the end results of these maps," she said. The only way the group could be heard is to file a lawsuit, she said.
Arkansas has a long history of "official voting-related discrimination," and white people are overrepresented in the state Legislature compared with the state's white population, according to the lawsuit.
Holly Dickson, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, issued a statement saying the board's maps "substantially underrepresent Black Arkansans, and unnecessarily divide communities of interest that merit legislative representation."
"Arkansas has historically diluted the political power of Arkansas' minority populations," she said in the statement. "If newly drawn maps aren't updated to fairly represent all Arkansans, these communities will continue to face obstacles to meaningful participation in the political process."
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston are listed as defendants in the civil litigation.
Hutchinson spokesperson Shealyn Sowers said in a statement that the governor is reviewing the litigation and did not comment further on the lawsuit.
Amanda Priest, a spokesperson for Rutledge, said in an email that the Republican state attorney general "will review the lawsuit and respond as appropriate."
Thurston's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
State Rep. Reginald Murdock said the House districts could have been drawn in a way to better reflect the racial demographics of the state.
Communities of interest should be kept together in any redistricting process, and fair election violations should be challenged in court, said a statement from Keidra Burrell, executive director of Fight Forward Arkansas, a nonpartisan voting advocacy group.
"Everyone's voice has the right to be heard, and it is our obligation to fight to ensure it," she said in the statement.
Black voters are a majority in 11% of the districts in the new map, even though Arkansas' Black population makes up 16.5% of the state and 15.5% of the citizen voting-age population, according to the lawsuit.
"Five additional districts in which Black voters constitute an effective majority would better achieve rough proportionality as contemplated by the Voting Rights Act," the lawsuit reads.
Majority-Black House districts can be drawn in Central Arkansas, Southwest Arkansas, and in the upper and lower Delta, according to the lawsuit.
The redrawn maps from the apportionment board have run into sharp criticism from Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Grant Tennille.
"The House maps, as approved, are illegal because they were designed to dilute the voting power of minority communities," he said in a statement Wednesday. "We hope the court orders the use of a map that fairly represents all Arkansans."
Information for this article was provided by Rachel Herzog of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; and The Associated Press.