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   From: remailer@domain.invalid   
      
   Another minority group has filed a lawsuit against legislative maps   
   passed in May and edited in August.   
      
   The East St. Louis branch of the NAACP, Illinois state conference of   
   the NAACP, and the United Congress of Community and Religious   
   Organizations (UCCRO) filed the suit in federal court in Chicago   
   Friday.   
      
   The suit alleges Democrats moved Black voters from East St. Louis   
   into mostly white district represented by Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-   
   Swansea), minimizing the influence of Black voters in their current   
   district, which is currently represented by Rep. LaToya Greenwood   
   (D-East St. Louis).   
      
   Removing Black voters from a majority black district and   
   redistributing them to other districts is known as “cracking” a   
   district. The NAACP argues that constitutes racial gerrymandering,   
   which is illegal under federal law.   
      
   From the suit:   
      
   S.B. 927 used race as the predominant factor in cracking the Black   
   population in the East St. Louis area in House District 114   
   [Greenwood] to provide safe seats for the White Democratic   
   incumbents in House Districts 112 [Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville)]   
   and 113 [Hoffman].   
      
   In its drawing of House District 114, [the legislative redistricting   
   plan] deviates from its stated redistricting principles by cracking   
   a politically cohesive community of Black voters in the East St.   
   Louis area and submerging them in an adjacent district, House   
   District 113, which is comprised of predominately White   
   municipalities represented by a White Democratic incumbent.   
      
   The resulting House District 114 fails to provide Black voters with   
   equal opportunities to elect their candidates of choice, in   
   violation of the United States Constitution and Section 2 of the   
   Voting Rights Act of 1965.   
      
   It isn’t clear yet whether the case will run separately or be folded   
   in with the existing suits filed by Republicans and the Mexican   
   American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF).   
      
   MALDEF filed an amended complaint with the court earlier this month.   
   I’m told Republicans filed theirs earlier this month, but we haven’t   
   received a copy yet.   
      
   We asked spokespeople for House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate   
   President Don Harmon to respond to the suit, but we did not hear   
   back from them.   
      
   https://www.theillinoize.com/articles/naacp-sues-over-alleged-east   
      
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