Democrats cheered Monday as a legislatively passed redistricting plan in Louisiana was blocked by a federal judge. The left’s rally cry over racist Republicans gerrymandering have been heard far and wide.
“The district map was drawn up in a special session earlier this year by the Republican-dominated Legislature. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the maps but his veto was overridden. That led to a lawsuit by voting rights advocates…Edwards said lawmakers should have included a second majority-Black district among the six districts they approved, noting that the state’s population is almost one-third Black.”
Reminder, when the Democrats want to cheat, they employ “voting rights activists.” When Republicans want to enact stiff rules for voting to avoid cheating, the term Democrats use is “racist”. Louisiana’s issue isn’t voting rights, it’s votes. Specifically Congressional votes.
Before anyone thinks there is no such thing as Democrat gerrymandering, think again. Here’s one of those “voting rights activists” spelling out the plan to flip states in 2020.
We also blocked the GOP from getting supermajorities in Wisconsin & Louisiana, which will force Republicans to work with the Dem governors on redistricting and prevent them from ramming through rigged, partisan maps.
— Jessica Post (@JessicaPost) November 16, 2020
Don’t even try to convince me the political actors in Louisiana are “locals”. This is an arm of the Democrat plan to flip states and change elections.
As we head closer to November, many states’ legislatures have been duking it out over redistricting. CBS announced earlier this week that everything was finalized when New Hampshire finalized their new gerrymandering map.
CBS needs to assemble some more talking heads and change their story after Monday’s ruling down south.
What is going on in Louisiana? First, it is a state that one could argue is going from red to purple in its voting. It has a Republican majority in its legislature but a Democrat governor. Demographically, it is roughly 2/3 white and 1/3 black. The Democrat governor is correct in his statement.
Second, and more important than the first point, it is almost evenly split in political leanings. According to Pew Research, not a bastion of conservative thinkers, Louisiana is 41% Republican and 43% Democrat.
This might be starting to make sense now.
The third point to add to the matrix of Louisiana’s muddled map problems—Black voters are 80% Democrat.
What is happening? The Republicans made a map in Louisiana’s congressional districts. Who knows if their motives were racial? For sure, their motives are to keep Louisiana’s congressional delegation leaning towards the Republican team. Don’t even bother to argue that point. Every state in the union does it, which is why redistricting is a bloody battle in split states such as Louisiana. Every state has congressional district lines like Grandma’s tangled yarn.
The Socialist Democrats have some cards to play as well. First, Louisiana is a racially charged state, with enough dissension in between the legislature and the governor, stir in a few activists, flavor with accusations of “racism”….add an activist federal judge appointed by President Obama…this is what you get for headlines.
Activist judge? How?—you might ask. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick blocked the use of the new map for the 2022 election and barked at the secretary of state. She didn’t just side with the complainants, she hamstrung the election process for Louisiana’s 2022 election.
She also told the legislature to redraw the map by June 20th. Not sure what the “or else” would be after that, but methinks if there isn’t another Black district, someone might get a timeout.
#BREAKING: Federal court in Louisiana blocked the state’s congressional map & ordered the legislature to draw a new map by 6/20. It ruled the state should have an additional majority-Black congressional district.
If upheld, it would likely net Democrats an additional House seat.— Bonnie Trachtenberg (@writebrainedny) June 7, 2022
The judge is no fool, she has Louisiana’s 2022 elections in the palm of her hand. Seems to me she’s going to force the legislature to create another Black majority district with the flourish of her pen. Is that democracy? While we may not like it, the decision over the map created by the legislature was done by representative governance–not the whim of a judge.
“In blocking the use of the map pending further elections, Dick said those filing the lawsuit were likely to prevail with their argument that the new districts violate the federal Voting Rights Act. She blocked Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin from conducting any elections using the new map.”
I would suggest the honorable judge remember what the Voting Rights Act truly states.
“When Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it determined that racial discrimination in voting had been more prevalent in certain areas of the country.”
Now is the time I start asking the questions leftists can’t answer.
First, nowhere in the redistricting of Louisiana has anyone been prohibited from voting. Nowhere. The appeal to the Voting Rights Act is ridiculous.
Second question, this whole song and dance is gerrymandering? Leveraging the voting power of a population that is registered 80% Democrat based on race and giving them a larger piece of the congressional pie is not only gerrymandering—it’s racist.
If Louisiana wants more Democrats going to the beltway for them, they need to vote for them. They have a margin thin voter registration advantage—without even considering race. Throw racial makeup along with voter registration—this is simply Democrats attempting their typical cheating. If they want a redistricted map that favors their values (and hopefully not based on the color of their skin), then vote for new legislative members and get it done by representative government.
Bottom line. Give me a ruler and a map, I’ll draw the dumb lines. Instead of trying to leverage voter populations based on race we need to vote.
Featured Image: “Gerrymandering” by EpicTop10.com via Creative Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped and modified
370H55V says: I wish we would cut the pretense of drawing lines for congressional districts. If we are going to elect representatives on the basis of race, then let’s just divide each state by census results: if there are ten seats in a 30% black state, then just hold an election in which only blacks can vote for their share of three, and similarly for the remaining seats–depending on the level of granularity agreed upon.
Meanwhile, kudos to the all-Democrat New York State Court of Appeals (state’s highest court in Albany) for throwing out the really House district lines shamelessly gerrymandered by the state leglslature. That was even too much for the court, although the decision was by only a close 4-3 majority. That should put an end to the Dems’ hopes of retaining the House in November, but you never know. . .
CycloneSteve says: Another option is to have a state’s representatives elected in a state wide election. (I don’t like this option, but it’s not subject to jerrymandering.)
In a state with 5 representatives you simply have each party list it’s top 5 candidates in order. At election time the parties and independents track up their votes.
Or you could set up a commission with guidelines with the express goal of an unbiased district. For example, their first goal is to get as many whole contiguous counties (or parishes) in a district. That would make it more difficult to rig.
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