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The Justice Department announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act against Galveston County, Texas, challenging the redistricting plan for its county governing body, known as the Commissioners Court. The plan was adopted by the county on Nov. 12, 2021, after release of the data from the 2020 Census.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
“This action is the latest demonstration of the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the voting rights of all Americans, particularly during the current redistricting cycle,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our complaint alleges that Galveston County has violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by devising a redistricting plan that dismantles the only district in which Black and Hispanic voters had the opportunity to elect a candidate of choice to the county’s governing body. We will continue to use all available tools to challenge voting discrimination in our country.”
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas is committed to protecting the voting rights of all of our citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery for the Southern District of Texas. “We are pleased to join the Civil Rights Division in bringing this important lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act.”
The United States’ complaint contends that the 2021 redistricting plan for the county’s governing body violates Section 2 because it has the discriminatory result of denying Black and Hispanic citizens an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and because the new map was adopted, in part with a discriminatory purpose. The complaint alleges that the county deliberately reconfigured the Commissioners Court’s sole, longstanding minority opportunity-to-elect district to eliminate Black and Hispanic voters’ opportunity to elect a representative of their choice. The complaint also alleges that over the course of the past three decades, Galveston County has on several occasions sought to diminish or eliminate electoral opportunities for the county’s Black and Hispanic voters.
The United States’ complaint asks the court to prohibit Galveston County from conducting elections under the challenged plan and to order Galveston County to devise and implement a new redistricting plan that complies with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice’s website.
Complaints about discriminatory voting practices may be reported to the Civil Rights Division through the internet reporting portal here or by telephone at 1-800-253-3931.
For a list of the department’s actions to protect voting rights, click here.
