Voting rights leaders say redistricting has galvanized Black voters in the South

Voting rights leaders from five Southern states on Friday highlighted on-the-ground efforts to drive voter turnout and surges in early voting among Black voters across four Southern states.

During a virtual press call held four days before Election Day, leaders from Alabama Values, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, Civic Tennessee, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the ACLU of South Carolina discussed the importance of upticks in Black and brown voter engagement and their organizations’ initiatives seeking to maximize turnout.

Panelists emphasized how the Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais and the resulting state redistricting efforts have galvanized Southern minority voters.

The decision, which weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, set off a wave of redistricting efforts among Southern states. In Alabama, state legislators implemented a congressional map the Supreme Court had previously struck down, which eliminated the 2nd Congressional District's status as a Black opportunity district.

“People are excited, but they are also being proactive. They have learned that sitting it out is not the way, and they’re turning out,” Alabama Election Protection Coalition coordinator and Defend the Ballot digital organizer Shayla Mitchell said. “They’re coming to events by the hundreds and the thousands across the state. They’re asking the right questions and leaning in.”

Mitchell, who also serves as a digital organizer with nonprofit Alabama Values, stressed that, because Alabama does not offer early voting, engagement initiatives she’s led have taken a regional approach to activating prospective voters, including providing in-person absentee voters rides to courthouses to cast their ballots.

“No voter, no area was left untapped. That included activating students and colleges,” Mitchell said. “That included tapping with our immigrant neighbors, making sure they have an understanding of what's on the ballot, not just who's on the ballot, because people put up signs everywhere, but they don't give education everywhere.”

“We had to make sure that we got in connection with not only legal professionals, but law students, judicial experts, and also paralegals, because the legal circle of our friends, it's not just relying on lawyers,” she added.

The panel highlighted that their organizations’ 2026 voter engagement initiatives coincide with Black and brown voters driving early voter turnout in Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina.

In Louisiana, almost 32 percent of first-day early voters were Black, a share topped in the state only once since 2008.

In North Carolina, Black voter turnout is up 70 percent over the same point in 2022. Tennessee’s statewide turnout ran 61 percent ahead of 2022 after the first week, and South Carolina’s first day of early voting more than doubled the state’s first day in 2022.

“Tennessee was the first state to redistrict after the Callais decision, and we drew and eliminated the only Black district in Tennessee in eight days,” Matia Powell, executive director of Civic Tennessee, said. “Voters here are taking that and running. They’re upset about that. It was clear that it was not the will of the people, and they are not going to let that deter them from turning out and being a part of this election.”

The panel came days after a hearing last Tuesday, where Callais plaintiffs asked a three-judge panel to review Louisiana’s last majority-Black congressional district.

Ashley Shelton, president and CEO of Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, condemned the plaintiffs’ request as a continued attempt to suppress Black voting power, while describing turnout surges in Louisiana and South Carolina as driven by fallout from Callais.

“In a state that has the second-largest Black population in the country proportionally, you're going to tell me we don't get to have any minority representation at all in our state,” Shelton said. “So, we have certainly moved with our lawyers of the Legal Defense Fund to have this dismissed.”

“But when you talk about suppression, that's what we're talking about,” she added.

Shelton added that affordability issues have become a major driver for voter engagement efforts fronted by Power Coalition for Equity and Justice.

“It's also meeting people everywhere they are,” she said. “At the gas tank, at the grocery store, on their electricity bill. Like, there's no way that anyone can say anymore that they don't do politics, because people are really clear that politics are doing them.”

According to Shelton, the court is expected to deliver a ruling on the plaintiffs’ arguments by November 15.

Mitchell Brown of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice highlighted students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University who marched to the polls to mark the first day of early voting in the state, despite the county Board of Elections removing an early voting site from A&T’s campus.

“Unfortunately, we've been here before. Our foremothers and forefathers fought for our right to vote in the period after Reconstruction,” he said. “They fought for our right to vote in the modern-day civil rights movement, and now we have to fight for it again. And because we know our history, we can learn from our history—we can go back and reclaim our history. And so that is very symbolic of what the students in North Carolina A&T did last week.”

When asked to highlight educational and support resources available to prospective Alabama voters, Mitchell cited defendtheballot.org, which she described as “a one-stop shop for education, resources and events.”

Mitchell also urged Alabamians to explore resources on Alabama Values’ dothevotething.org, which lets voters check their registration, obtain sample ballots and access information on federal and state lawmakers.

The Election Protection Coalition coordinator highlighted a wide network of voter engagement organizations that have worked collaboratively to drive turnout and education efforts.

Mitchell said further resources for prospective voters are available through organizations such as the LDF, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Alabama Values and Alabama Values Progress, Shake the Field, Alabama Forward, Black Voters Matter, ACLU of Alabama and the League of Women Voters of Alabama.

“We can't do this work by ourselves. We have to stay in the community together,” Mitchell said. “We gotta take one person to the polls, and make sure we get five more to go vote after that.”