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TexasTowelie

(112,437 posts)
Thu Mar 28, 2019, 12:30 AM Mar 2019

Mississippi Senate Approves New Map to Boost Black Voting Power

JACKSON — Mississippi lawmakers are working to redraw the lines of a state senate district that two federal courts ruled dilutes black voting power. Senate District 22, which stretches 100 miles across six counties, is majority African American but has a white Republican senator, Buck Clarke of Hollandale.

On Tuesday, the state Senate approved a new map, which would only affect District 22 and the neighboring Senate District 13. If the House also passes the Senate's redistricting plan, it would go into effect before this year's statewide elections.

"I'm very supportive of the plan," Sen. Willie Simmons, a black Democrat who represents District 13, told his colleagues on Tuesday.

The new map would raise the black voting-age population in Clarke's District to 58 percent, up from 51 percent.

Read more: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/mar/27/mississippi-senate-approves-new-map-boost-black-vo/

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Mississippi Senate Approves New Map to Boost Black Voting Power (Original Post) TexasTowelie Mar 2019 OP
Mississippi!? sheshe2 Mar 2019 #1
Also surprised me when I found this out about Mississippi quickesst Mar 2019 #2
greaaaaaaaaaaaaaat riversedge Mar 2019 #5
An Ole Miss student got that ball rolling, impressive stuff. Tactical Peek Mar 2019 #3
Great article TexasTowelie Mar 2019 #4

quickesst

(6,283 posts)
2. Also surprised me when I found this out about Mississippi
Thu Mar 28, 2019, 01:53 AM
Mar 2019

"It’s tough being a child in Mississippi. The state has the nation’s worst rates for infant mortality and low-weight newborns. Its childhood poverty rate ranks as the nation’s second worst. Overall, the residents of Mississippi are the unhealthiest in the country.

But there is one notable exception to these dour health stats: Mississippi has the highest vaccination rate for school-age children. It’s not even close. Last year, 99.7 percent of the state’s kindergartners were fully vaccinated. Just 140 students in Mississippi entered school without all of their required shots."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/30/mississippi-yes-mississippi-has-the-nations-best-child-vaccination-rate-heres-why/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8509d917857e

This was my
"Mississippi!?
Holy....*hit!".......moment.

Tactical Peek

(1,212 posts)
3. An Ole Miss student got that ball rolling, impressive stuff.
Thu Mar 28, 2019, 02:02 AM
Mar 2019



How a college student exposed racial gerrymandering, prompted a lawsuit and forced Mississippi to redraw a voting district

By Adam Ganucheau

OXFORD — Late one night in May 2017, John Chappell, then a sophomore at the University of Mississippi, pulled out his laptop to research a hypothesis.

Chappell, an Albuquerque native, had just finished reading several books on voting rights and found a map of the legislative districts in his adopted home state. One district in particular stood out to him: Senate District 22, a section of the state zigzagging 120 miles southward from the Delta fields to the affluent Jackson suburbs.

He began writing down the individual voting precincts in the district and noting their racial demographics. He looked at similar demographics of precincts in neighboring districts. When he read the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required states like Mississippi with a history of race-based voting discrimination to get approval to change voting laws, he knew he was onto something.

more
https://mississippitoday.org/2019/03/27/how-a-college-student-exposed-racial-gerrymandering-prompted-a-lawsuit-and-forced-mississippi-to-redraw-a-voting-district/?fbclid=IwAR1N5jtGWPwRCseG25c5b4gXlrWi2u1UIjou4IesSuyDbabd4NUaGQLs188



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