Trump allies in the South are breaking up majority-Black electorates

Shomari Figures is at risk of losing his Alabama seat due to gerrymandering. (Reuters: Kevin Mohatt) Link copiedShareShare articleStates in America's South are scrambling to draw up new electoral maps that would eliminate majority-Black electorates. It is the latest stage in a plan between Republicans and Democrats to gain advantages in elections at the end of the year. Here's a breakdown of why a gerrymandering arms race is going on, and how far it's progressed. It is a tactic political parties use to gain advantages at elections. The geographical boundaries of federal electorates, known as congressional districts, in the US are decided by each individual state. That differs from Australia, where boundaries are drawn up by an independent commission. Because of that structure, American politicians can manipulate maps in their favour. It makes it possible for a party to win more seats, even if the majority of voters supported another party. Planet America dives into what gerrymandering can look like below. While many consider gerrymandering to be a form of cheating or rigging elections, it is almost entirely legal to do in the US. One of the few limitations around the practice comes from the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits any changes that discriminate on the basis of race or language minority status. When it comes to thinking about how an electorate is likely to vote, race can be a reliable predictor. Research shows Black voters tend to be overwhelmingly Democratic. It becomes a major factor of gerrymandering in the South, where most Black Americans live. "A heavily Democratic area that is predominantly Black will vote Democratic far more consistently than a heavily Democratic area that is predominantly white," political science professors Claire Wofford and Jordan Ragusa wrote for The Conversation. The US is set to hold its midterm elections, which will decide the makeup of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate, on November 3. Arnold Schwarzenegger expresses concern over the "crazy gerrymandering" taking place across the US. In many past midterm elections, it has been observed that the party the sitting president belongs to usually loses seats in the House. To insulate against this, US President Donald Trump directed Republican governors to gerrymander the districts in their state. It resulted in a flurry of redistricting across the country, with Democratic states introducing their own changes to cancel out Republican gains. But several red states in the South encountered a roadblock that ground their ambitions to a halt. In some cases, such as Alabama and Tennessee, the blue districts they wanted to eliminate had majority-minority populations protected by the Voting Rights Act. It wasn't until April that the redistricting race was reheated, when a judgment by the US Supreme Court cleared the way for new maps. In a 6-3 ruling, the justices ruled Louisiana's congressional map, which intentionally created a second majority-Black district to comply with the Voting Rights Act, was unconstitutional. "Allowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context," Justice Samuel Alito, who was appointed to the court in 2005 by former Republican president George W Bush, wrote for the majority opinion. The Supreme Court decision paved the way for Alabama to make changes to its electoral map. (Reuters: Kevin Mohatt) Critics say the decision effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act and would allow politicians to dilute minority voting power under the cover of partisanship. "This decision is a devastating setback in the long fight for equality in political representation for all Americans," Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law president Michael Waldman said in a statement. "By undermining the Voting Rights Act, the [Supreme Court] has dismantled the ability of voters of color to have a fair chance for representation in government." In a joint statement, the leaders of voting rights organisations Fair Fight Action and Black Votes Matter said the ruling risked allowing politicians to "choose their voters instead of voters choosing them". Within days of the Supreme Court's ruling, several more red states moved to introduce new maps that would give Republicans a partisan advantage. Republicans say the new maps are not about race. "The color of one's skin should not dictate which congressional district you belong in," Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement after the Supreme Court ruling. But experts say drawing districts without racial influences is more complicated than the Supreme Court and Republicans presume, because Black voters are reliably Democrats. "Across the region, race is a very strong predictor of how people vote: Southern whites tend to be among the most conservative and Republican-leaning in the country, while Southern Blacks are amo

Trump allies in the South are breaking up majority-Black electorates

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