Redistricting brought about the first new maps since the Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
By Anjali Enjeti, J.D.
Organizer and Journalist
I’ve lived in the South more than half of my life and by now, I’ve heard just about every stereotype about the “Southern voter.” The Southern voter is white, racist, uneducated and Republican. They vote against their own interests and get what they deserve because they’re too ignorant to understand the issues at stake.
In the aftermath of elections, blue-state voters threaten to disown Southern voters and often blame them for every unsatisfactory electoral outcome. These crude jabs fail to grasp the breadth and depth of voter suppression in the South.
Despite widespread grass-roots organizing, with each passing year, Republican leaders succeed in enacting more laws and rules that make it increasingly difficult to vote, and these measures disproportionately affect Black and other minority voters.
To add insult to injury, after the 2020 census, Republican-controlled Southern state legislatures diluted the power of minority voters when they redrew district maps in an even more discriminatory and partisan manner. Thus, not only do Southern voters face serious barriers to voting, but GOP gerrymandered congressional and state legislative districts have reduced the value of their votes.
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