Fair Maps Texas is suing Abbott over redistricting maps

Nov 17, 2021 7:33 PM EST

Fair Maps Texas is suing Gov. Abbott over redistricting maps

Fair Maps Texas Action Committee filed a lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott over the state's newly enacted redistricting maps on Tuesday.

Austin, Texas – A group of voting rights advocates filed a lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Secretary of State John Scott over the state's new redistricting maps.

State Rep. Julie Johnson looks through redistricting maps during the second-called 87th Legislature special session on October 12 in Austin, Texas. © IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

Numerous voting rights organizations joined Fair Maps Texas Action Committee's lawsuit against the governor and secretary of state, which was announced on Tuesday.

The lawsuit states that the 2020 census showed that people of color accounted for 95% of the state's population increase over the past decade, and argues that the newly enacted redistricting plans fail to depict such reality.

"Instead, Texas has once again done what it has done several times before, drawing electoral districts that intentionally discriminate against the state’s minority populations and dilute their voting power," the lawsuit claims.

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The suit goes on to argue, "Despite consistent federal-court intervention against Texas’s tactics, the Legislature once again cracked and packed minority populations, refused to create minority opportunity districts required by the Voting Rights Act, and racially gerrymandered electoral districts."

According to a press release sent out on Tuesday, Fair Maps Texas Action Committee is, "Challenging new Texas state legislative and Congressional district plans as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders violating both the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution."

The Fair Maps Texas Action Committee includes groups such as the ACLU of Texas, the League of Women Voters of Texas, Our Vote Texas, Texans Against Gerrymandering, and Common Cause Texas, amongst others.

In a joint statement, organizations from the Fair Maps Texas Action Committee said, "Despite our best efforts to advocate for a fair and open redistricting process, the politicians in charge chose to shut the public out in order to force through blatantly gerrymandered maps."

The statement continued, "Now, we will take action together to challenge these unlawful maps because our democracy is threatened."

Cover photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire