Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi NAACP today asked a federal court to stop state legislators from running in their current districts in August because they are not representative of black voters.

"The old districts are mal-proportioned," said NAACP attorney Carroll Rhodes, who filed the complaint in U.S. Southern District Court today. "The House's (current district plan) has over 138 percent (population) deviation. In the Senate, it's over 4o percent deviation. It's unacceptable. So the NAACP wants the districts to be redrawn so that the black population is not diluted."

The NAACP filed its suit after learning that House Speaker Billy McCoy had no intention of debating the Mississippi House of Representatives' redistricting plan with senators in conference after the Senate voted the House plan down a second time today.

Senators refused to approve a Senate redistricting map with a House redistricting map amended to it. The "no" vote means both chambers must appoint conferees to hash out the resolution, but McCoy said the House will not likely get what it wants from the conference, and that he will not bother to assign House members to participate in the conference.

New 2010 Census figures force the House and Senate to approve a new redistricting plan that evenly distributes the state's population among districts. Both chamber must approve the other's redistricting map before the plans go to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval. So far, however, Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant has convinced Senate Republicans not to approve the House redistricting plan, arguing that the House plan is too friendly to Democrats in light of population growth in Republican districts.

Today, Gov. Haley Barbour issued a statement praising Bryant's efforts to reject the original House plan: "Congratulations to Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and the Senate for protecting the interests of all Mississippi voters. I hope the conference committee will craft a House plan that treats voters in every district the same."

Rhodes said the NAACP wants the Senate to reach consensus on the House plan by Monday, and said McCoy's refusal to assign House conferees to hash out an agreement with the Senate means new, properly distributed districts won't happen in time for elections in August.

"The House concurred in the Senate plan, but the Senate has refused to concur. The new districts will not really be effective as a state law. That means that we have to run under the old districts, and that is unacceptable," Rhodes said.
The NAACP, he said, will soon submit to the court two redistricting plans for consideration. Both plans, Rhodes said, closely resemble the plans a majority of the House and Senate approved.