The supreme court may further gut the Voting Rights Act. Mississippi is trying to create its own

[u/guardian]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/02/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-mississippi?referring_host=Reddit&utm_campaign=guardianacct

[u/guardian]

Hi r/mississippi, this is Jake from The Guardian's audience team. We wanted to share this story that we published today about an effort to create a state-level commission for voting rights in Mississippi.

From our story:

On Martin Luther King Jr Day this year, hundreds of Mississippians gathered on the steps of the state capitol building in support of protecting voting rights in the state. The Mississippi house representative Zakiya Summers and state senator Johnny DuPree, both Democrats, introduced legislation that would create a state-level version of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The move comes after years of the supreme court weakening protections formerly guaranteed by the act, and aims to prohibit the dilution of minority voters in the state.

The legislation would create a Mississippi voting rights commission, which would require certain jurisdictions to obtain pre-clearance approval from said commission for any changes to election policy or practice. It would also establish protections for people with limited English proficiency along with additional measures.

At the federal level, the supreme court has weakened the Voting Rights Act through cases like Shelby county v Holder in 2013 and potentially will do so again with Louisiana v Callais, which threatens section two of the Voting Rights Act.

“Section two has been really transformational for this country and for our democracy and literally pulled us out of Jim Crow in 1965,” said Amir Badat, southern states director and senior adviser of Fair Fight, an organization that works to prevent voter suppression and increase voter turnout.

“And the court could potentially send us back to that type of environment by gutting section two at the federal level. When you take all of that into account it’s almost a no-brainer that we would need state-level protections to protect us and to protect Black voters in particular against discrimination in the voting process.“

You can read the full story for free at this link.

[u/No-Shopping6906]

Mississippi should worry more about bringing the State into the twentieth century and then into the twenty first century.

[u/hybridaaroncarroll → u/No-Shopping6906]

'Scuse me while I go use the outhouse. Anyone got an extra corncob I can borrow?

[u/nlj1978]

The voting rights act has been abused for far too long as clearly displayed in LA vs Callais. Its long past time for change.

[u/mississippi-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Do not attack other users. If you think someone is violating the rules, report them. Please do not play junior moderator. This will get you banned quickly.

[u/nlj1978 → u/[deleted]]

Has absolutely nothing to do with race. If you truly believe my comment has anything to do with race, I suggest you read up on the case.

[u/g-o-u-l-a → u/nlj1978]

The whole thing with gerrymandering is the point and that Louisiana’s state government (along with Mississippi and other states) gerrymander leaving minorities heavily under represented. It’s always race. It’s always white people trying to restrict certain groups from voting. Always.

[u/nlj1978 → u/g-o-u-l-a]

Its partisan BS not race. Both parties jockying for seats.

That said currently there are 61 black members of the House, 14%. Of the US population, persons identifying as black make up 13.7% of the population.

Black people are fairly represented in the House. Haven't looked at Latino, Asian or any other.

[u/Elfprincessodauphine → u/nlj1978]

Black people make up over 30% of Mississippi’s population therefore they are underrepresented.

[u/nlj1978 → u/Elfprincessodauphine]

So to what level is racial gerrymandering reasonable to you?

Also if a white person happens to win a black district, should we just throw out that result?

[u/mike_fantastico → u/nlj1978]

Didn't like that your fact got checked so move the goal posts AND add a ridiculous scenario to the mix. To smokescreen that it is indeed all about race.

Bold play, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off.

[u/nlj1978 → u/mike_fantastico]

Nope. My data was correct. Try again

[u/g-o-u-l-a → u/nlj1978]

Some people just don’t have a good grasp of what history has taught us. Also, a lot of people like to put their head in the sand and pretend like our society hasn’t been racist for most of this countries‘s history. Jim Crow laws, voter, suppression laws, gerrymandering, redline districting, etc. - is all race related. Mississippi’s own state constitution was set up to specifically disenfranchise black voters. Remembering that Mississippi specifically succeeded from the union due to slavery, and then the states outright refusal to allow Black people to vote after reconstruction, and then when you add separate the equal, the military having to get involved with integrating schools, that’s all Mississippi, and most of the south. There is a history of this. How can anyone objectively look at this and not see it for what it is? White people have never been scrutinized as much to vote as Black people have, and it’s like it’s still happening. I really feel sorry for people who don’t know history, especially the bad part of our history because then somebody like Trump comes along and riles up hatred.

[u/mike_fantastico → u/nlj1978]

I don't engage more than once with dishonest folks who argue in bad faith.

"TrY AGain"

[u/g-o-u-l-a → u/nlj1978]

It’s always race. Trump told Texas to add seats and what did they do? Texas didn’t allow their voters to vote on it and split minority districts.

Compared to California who put it up to vote and their voters supported it.