FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE–September 16, 2021

With the legislature’s Joint Governmental Affairs Committee set to meet tomorrow, redistricting season is about to officially start in Louisiana, and Louisiana Progress will be working with partners across the state to advocate for fair and equitable maps.   

BATON ROUGE, LA | September 16, 2021—When the state legislature’s Joint Governmental Affairs committee meets tomorrow morning to discuss redistricting, it will semi-officially kickoff redistricting season in Louisiana. The committee is expected to discuss the Census data that was released last month and their upcoming roadshow, where they will hold a series of public hearings across Louisiana, ahead of a special redistricting session in February 2022. Local redistricting will also take place along a similar timeline.

Louisiana Progress, along with partner organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Fair Districts Louisiana, Together Louisiana, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, ACLU of Louisiana, and others will participate in a redistricting webinar with the Southern University Law Center on October 14th from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. to educate our fellow Louisianans about redistricting and to advocate for fair and equitable political maps at all levels of government--federal, state, and local (register here).

One important question that we hope to answer for people is, “What does it mean to have ‘fair’ and ‘equitable’ maps?” We define those ideas in several ways, but the two most important principles we advocate for are Equal Representation (racial proportionality) and Competitiveness

“Unfortunately, Louisiana’s current political maps at the federal, state and local level fall woefully short of being either fair or equitable,” according to Peter Robins-Brown, director of policy & advocacy at Louisiana Progress. “Racial proportionality is inequitably skewed so that communities of color lack equal representation. For example, Louisiana’s population is roughly 32 percent African-American, but only one of our six congressional seats, or about 17%, is majority-minority. Our maps also lack competitiveness, with none of those six congressional seats being competitive between political parties.”

While our congressional districts are perfect examples of racial disproportionality and lack of competitiveness, they are hardly the only districts in our state where that is the case. The same can be said of our state legislative districts, the Louisiana State Supreme Court (LSSC), the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), and the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC), as are many parish councils and school boards.

That lack of equal representation and competitiveness has immense ramifications for our politics, communities, economy, and society as a whole. It helps drive political and social division, since politicians are incentivized to play to the extremes of their base instead of working toward productive, helpful compromises. People start to think their votes don’t matter, which leads them to become disengaged from the political process. And many communities, especially communities of color, feel their voices are being unfairly diminished or even silenced, which further exacerbates already heightened tensions.

“In 2022, the Louisiana legislature and our state’s local governments will have a chance to fix some of these systemic problems,” said Melissa Flournoy, board chair of Louisiana Progress. “We hope they take advantage of the opportunity, and we will be there to advocate for equal representation and competitiveness every step of the way.”

Who: Louisiana Progress

What: On the eve of the Louisiana legislature’s Joint Governmental Affairs Committee redistricting hearing, Louisiana Progress announces that we will be joining other statewide advocates to fight for fair and equitable political maps in Louisiana.

When: September 16, 2021 & October 14, 2021

Contact: 

Peter Robins-Brown, Policy & Advocacy Director, Louisiana Progress, (504) 256-8196, peter@louisianaprogress.org