REDISTRICTING: Rankin County Dems object to Republican plan, request DOJ reject maps

In a letter yesterday to the U.S. Department of Justice, Rankin County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Ryan Brown lodged his organization's objection to the legislative redistricting maps passed by the Legislature this year. The objection points out some pretty interesting numbers.  For example, the target population for a House district this year was 24,322 people. Rankin County grew by 26,290 people since the last maps were drawn, yet did not receive a new seat wholly within Rankin County under the House map.  


Also, and probably of most concern to the Justice Department and federal courts, there are 28,323 African-Americans in Rankin County.  The Republican-drawn House map ensures that only 3,522 African-Americans are in a majority-minority district.  That indicates a prevalent use of "cracking", the redistricting term for splitting minority votes amongst multiple districts to dilute their voting strength.


This bears intense watching going forward, y'all.


Here's the letter in its entirety:

Rankin County Letter to the DOJ