NAACP to sue over School Board election

InB4Racist.

So they decided to reduce the number of School Board seats in the next election from 11 to 9 to save some money. Great idea. The School Board can't seem to get much done anyway and less government is good.

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The School Board approved a new nine-member plan by a narrow 6-5 vote on July 24. The Louisiana NAACP has promised to challenge in federal court to this last-minute redistricting, arguing that the new maps dilute minority voting strength. The civil rights organization wants a court to revert the School Board back to the 11-member plan it approved in November 2012, a plan which already cleared by the U.S. Justice Department.

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Here is the kicker. The NAACP isn't suing because the new Districts are majority white but because the new districts ARENT MAJORITY BLACK ENOUGH. Their argument is that minority turnout is low therefore the districts need to be overwhelmingly black so they will be certain to only elect black representatives. I seriously can't wrap my mind around this.

quote:

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A newly drawn District 5 is drawing objections from some local black leaders. First-term board member, Evelyn Ware-Jackson, who is black, is the incumbent — board member Craig Freeman says he’s not running again. District 5, however, is composed of 55 percent black versus 42 percent white residents. In the 2012 plan, which has been jettisoned, the lowest black majority was in District 6. That district had 59 percent black versus 33 percent white residents.

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quote:

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Black voting registration in the new District 5 is 50 percent black versus 46 percent white. And at election time, those 25 precincts are more white still. Even at peak black turnout during the 2008 and 2012 president elections, white voters showed up in greater numbers, 49 to 47 percent each time. In a lower black turnout elections, such as the 2010 Senate race between David Vitter and Charlie Melancon, the white advantage grew to 56 percent versus 41 percent black. Couvillon, president of JMC Analytics and Polling, said counts of residents leave out a lot. “The census data are illusory in terms of actual voting strength,” he said. “You could make an argument that’s there’s regression going on.”

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This isn't a post about representatives reflecting their constituency. I am for that. The question I have is, what do you do when the constituency DGAF and doesn't participate? Maybe the NAACP could spend time doing outreach to get people to the polls instead of suing to rig the election.

ADMINS, on review this probably should be a Poli Board post. Please move if you are of the same mind.

EDITED to note that I didn't edit before. Sharp eyed readers today.