An analysis by VoteHub, an election data organization, examined voting patterns in 78 Black Belt counties across the South following a significant Supreme Court ruling in late April that weakened Voting Rights Act protections. The study found that Republican-controlled legislatures in multiple states responded by pursuing congressional map changes intended to dilute Black voter influence.
Following the court decision, Republican-led redistricting efforts accelerated across the region. Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama moved to redraw congressional maps, while Mississippi’s governor indicated plans for legislators to revise maps before upcoming midterm elections. Louisiana, the state from which the triggering court case originated, even invalidated already-cast votes pending completion of new maps. Alabama took steps to split majority-Black districts, while South Carolina and Georgia pursued map reductions, though the latter two states ultimately did not implement such changes.
The VoteHub analysis indicated that these efforts produced unintended consequences. All but one of the 78 tracked Black Belt counties shifted leftward in partisan turnout relative to 2024 results. States holding primaries after the court decision experienced notable participation surges in majority-Black counties. Alabama emerged as a striking example, with Greene County exceeding 50 percent turnout—a 27.6 percentage-point gain. Multiple Alabama counties targeted by Republican redistricting, including Bullock, Lowndes, Macon, and Montgomery in the state’s second congressional district, recorded substantial turnout increases.
Louisiana’s primary results similarly demonstrated elevated Black voter participation, with Black voters comprising 35.7 percent of the primary electorate despite representing 32.1 percent of the population. Black voter turnout in Louisiana reached 30.9 percent, exceeding white voter turnout by 3.2 percentage points. In contrast, Mississippi and North Carolina, which held primaries before the court ruling, showed more modest turnout differentials in majority-Black counties, averaging only 1.1 percentage points above statewide levels.
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