Tennessee’s new congressional maps are now facing multiple legal challenges, as voters, candidates and the NAACP, file to stop new maps from going into effect before the midterms.
The Tennessee Democratic Party filed its lawsuit Friday in federal court, seeking an immediate hearing on whether the new maps can go forward.
The lawsuit comes a day after Tennessee became the first state to approve new congressional maps following a decision last week by the U.S. Supreme Court. The change paved the way for lawmakers to redistrict areas like Memphis, which has previously been protected by part of the Voting Rights Act. President Donald Trump has called on several GOP-led states to create new maps in light of the decision.
More: WPLN redistricting updates
The legal challenge from Democrats is the second in as many days, as the NAACP quickly filed an emergency petition Thursday, arguing that the legislature didn’t have the authority to strike down a 50-year-old law against mid-decade redistricting.
An NAACP challenge to the state’s 2022 maps was rejected in court at that time because the decision would’ve come too close to an election. Democrats argue that timing consideration should apply to these new maps, which require county governments to update their voter rolls and readjust boundaries.
In a May 4 memo obtained by WPLN News, Tennessee’s Coordinator of Elections, Mark Goins wrote, “This has the potential to affect ballot styles, voter assignments, notices and election administration across the state.”
The Tennessee Democratic Party’s lawsuit points to 2022 court testimony in which election officials said moving the candidate qualifying deadline past April 7 would “wreak electoral chaos,” cause “voter confusion,” and “risk disenfranchisement of voters.”
The legislature voted this week to extend the deadline to get onto the ballot to May 15. Democrats are asking the court to strike down the new congressional maps as Tennessee’s early voting was set to begin in July.
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