Republican attempts to redraw congressional maps in the US South appear to be driving Black voters to the polls in greater numbers and shifting their counties further left, according to a new analysis.
Following a Supreme Court decision in late April that impacted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Republican legislatures in states including Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama moved to pass new maps. The Mississippi governor has also expressed a desire for legislators to redraw maps before the upcoming midterm elections.
The analysis by VoteHub, an election organisation focused on data, tracked 78 Black belt counties and found that these efforts have motivated Black voters. All but one of these counties shifted left in partisan turnout compared to 2024. Majority-Black counties that voted after the Supreme Court's Louisiana v Callais decision, which prompted the redistricting efforts, experienced a surge in voter participation.
This trend was evident in primaries held earlier this year in Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Alabama, for instance, showed a strong shift, with Greene county surpassing 50% turnout in its primary, a positive differential of 27.6 percentage points. Bullock county, which is over 70% Black, recorded the third-largest turnout in the state.
In Louisiana's primary, Black voters made up 35.7% of the electorate, despite comprising 32.1% of the population. Black voter turnout in the primary was 30.9%, which was 3.2 points higher than white voters.