***BREAKING - US DOJ REQUEST MEANS NO VOTER ID IN MISSISSIPPI THIS ELECTION

Here is the letter from the United States Department of Justice regarding Mississippi's application for review of the Voter ID statute.  Essentially, the DOJ wants more information concerning the reasons for the law, and that means NO VOTER ID THIS ELECTION CYCLE.

Voter ID Response 10 01 12

Clarion-Ledger and Daily Journal misreport affect of Denny map on majority minority districts ***UPDATED*** - My numbers were wrong, C-L and DJ were right.

Cassandra Mickens of the Clarion-Ledger and Bobby Harrison of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal both erroneously reported today that the redistricting map drawn by Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) would increase the number of majority minority House districts in Mississippi.  In actuality, the number of majority minority districts would decrease.

Under the current maps, drawn in 2002, there are 43 majority minority districts.  Under the Denny map, there would only be 42.  When the current maps were drawn a decade ago, there were only 41 majority minority districts.  Due to population shifts, however, the current number of majority minority districts is 43.

You can count them for yourself here:  House 2002 benchmark summary and Denny map summary.

***UPDATE*** - Thanks to "anonymous" in comments, I have been proven wrong.  I counted districts 71 & 83 twice.  The articles linked above are correct in saying that the Denny map increases majority minority districts by one.  My apologies to Ms. Mickens and Mr. Harrison.