LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Republicans in several Southern states are racing to pass new congressional maps in time for the midterms.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
They are responding to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that gutted the Voting Rights Act. In Louisiana, the governor suspended U.S. House races so the legislature can draw a new map. Early voting started there this past weekend. In a few minutes, we'll talk about all this with former Attorney General Eric Holder, who's now heading a redistricting task force for the Democrats, but we're going to begin with the latest details.
FADEL: Aubri Juhasz of member station WWNO is following the situation in Louisiana, where the Supreme Court case originated, and joins us now. Good morning, Aubri.
AUBRI JUHASZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So where do things stand right now?
JUHASZ: Yeah. The day after the Supreme Court threw out Louisiana's congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, state officials suspended House races, arguing they had to do it in light of the ruling, though the court didn't tell them to do that. That map had been drawn under court order in 2024 to create a second majority-Black district out of six. Black residents make up about a third of the state's population. This comes amid an unprecedented redistricting race that President Donald Trump set off in an effort to help the GOP hold the House in the midterms. So when Louisiana's governor, Jeff Landry, put the state's U.S. House races on hold, Trump thanked him for doing that. This week, lawmakers are expected to start working to pass a new map that could eliminate one or both of the state's majority-Black districts.
FADEL: How are voters reacting?
JUHASZ: Yeah. I was out in New Orleans on Saturday, the first day of early voting, to visit an early-voting site. And there were people who honestly weren't sure what to do, since the House races are still on the ballot. It was too late to take them off, and officials have said votes cast won't be counted. At the poll I went to, there wasn't any big signage explaining the change - just a sheet of all the races that were supposed to be happening that was up on the wall, and it had been updated in pen. Someone had written, canceled, next to the House races and crossed them out. So some voters said they cast votes anyway, just in case. I asked Syria Jackson if she felt it was reasonable for the state to suspend races at the last minute.
SYRIA JACKSON: Nowhere near reasonable. They're literally trying to take power from the people.
JUHASZ: I also spoke with Pete Cressey (ph), and he used language I've been hearing from some older Black people in Louisiana. They feel like we're in a new Jim Crow era.
PETE CRESSEY: But the thing is, just go back to where it was in the 1960s. They're doing the same thing over and over.
JUHASZ: Creasy said there needs to be another Civil Rights Movement, and that's something several people told me.
FADEL: Have there been any legal challenges to the suspension of these House races?
JUHASZ: Yes. Voters, voting groups and candidates have filed multiple lawsuits in state and federal courts. They say the governor doesn't have the right to put things on hold, that it should be up to the legislature. They also argue it was too late, since absentee ballots were already sent out and, in some cases, returned, and that there are, you know, lots of other potential legal problems. Rick Hasen is an expert in election law at UCLA's law school. He's not involved in the cases.
RICK HASEN: The bottom line is this is one of the most complex, tangled web of issues.
FADEL: Aubri, any idea on how or when this may get untangled?
JUHASZ: Yeah. Some judges have already denied requests to force the House races to happen as scheduled with the old map, and they're expected to start weighing in on some of the larger legal questions as early as this week. Meanwhile, early voting will continue until election day on May 16.
FADEL: Aubri Juhasz is with member station WWNO in New Orleans. Aubri, thank you for your reporting.
JUHASZ: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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