Today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (“LDF”) sent three letters to the South Carolina Association of Counties, South Carolina School Board Association, and Municipal Association of South Carolina regarding redistricting. As the associations’ members prepare for redistricting, LDF wrote to (1) share brief background about the redistricting process; (2) remind legislative bodies responsible for redistricting of their baseline affirmative obligations to comply with the U.S. Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act; and (3) recommend how to involve community members and ensure transparency in the redistricting process. The letters notify members that LDF is closely monitoring the redistricting process on the state and local level to ensure equality of access to representation for all residents, as well as the non-dilution of voting strength of racial minority voters and are available to serve as a resource.
Read the letter to the South Carolina Association of Counties here.
Read the letter to the South Carolina School Board Association here.
Read the letter to the Municipal Association of South Carolina here.
Earlier this month, LDF sent letters to the South Carolina House Redistricting Ad Hoc Committee and state Senate Judiciary Redistricting Subcommittee of its baseline affirmative obligations to comply with the U.S. Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act which can be read here and here.
Ahead of the 2021 redistricting cycle, LDF, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, and MALDEF released Power on the Line(s): Making Redistricting Work for Us, a guide for community partners and policy makers who intend to engage in the redistricting process at all levels of government. The guide provides essential information about the redistricting process, such as examples of recent efforts to dilute the voting power of communities of color and considerations for avoiding such dilution. Read the guide here.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
