What happened today in the South’s rush to gerrymander and crush Black political power

• Florida: The GOP’s gerrymandered map is in effect: Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed it into law yesterday. But voters quickly sued in a bid to block “one of the most extreme gerrymanders in American history.” Two more lawsuits have since been filed.
  
  
• Alabama: Today was day two of a special session to authorize legislation to draw new districts that favor Republicans. The state currently has a court-ordered map that is in place until 2030, but has asked both SCOTUS and the 11th Circuit to issue expedited relief to begin redistricting.
  
  
• Tennessee: The Tennessee House and Senate convened this afternoon for a special session to begin eliminating the one remaining Democratic stronghold in Memphis. State Democrats are fired up.
  
  
• Virginia: We are still waiting for the Virginia Supreme Court to determine whether a Democratic-backed redistricting plan — approved by voters last month — will go into effect. The State Board of Elections is currently blocked from certifying the referendum pending further instruction from the state's highest court. The board is required by law to certify the results by… today.
  
  
• Louisiana: Last night, SCOTUS cleared the way for Louisiana to gerrymander its congressional map mid-election after previously warning courts not to change rules close to elections.
  
  
  • Around 42,000 people had already cast mail ballots by the time Louisiana halted congressional primaries to gerrymander.
    
    
  • SCOTUS erred in fast-tracking the judgement in that case and should stop the Louisiana redraw, Black voters argued in a new filing today.
    
    
  • Louisiana is also targeting a Black district in New Orleans that wasn’t even part of the Supreme Court case.
    
    
• South Carolina: The GOP-controlled state House could extend the legislative session to consider redistricting, but it’s unclear they have the necessary votes to do that, the Post and Courier reported.

Lead plaintiff in case that gutted Voting Rights Act is an election conspiracist who was at Jan. 6 protest

• Social media posts first reported by Democracy Docket paint a troubling picture of Bert Callais — suggesting a man who harbors a deep distrust of the election system, which he has called “rigged,” and who is steeped in false conspiracy theories about voting.
  
  
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In major escalation, DOJ demands personal information of 2020 election workers in Georgia

• The DOJ is demanding the names, addresses and phone numbers of 2020 Fulton County election workers after it seized election materials.
  
  
• A top county official called the request “harassment” and accused the department of abusing the criminal process.
  
  
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