Redistricting lawsuit accuses Sarasota County of discriminating against black voters
Friday, December 13, 2019
December 13, 2019 - From Herald Tribune
In a move evoking the civil rights battles of a previous era, three black residents of northern Sarasota County filed a class action lawsuit Thursday in federal court alleging the county and a trio of county commissioners discriminated against black voters when they approved a redistricting plan last month.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by shifting the boundaries of Commissioner Mike Moran’s District 1 — which is up for election in 2020 — so that it removes a significant number of black voters and a black candidate, former Sarasota Mayor Fredd Atkins, from the district.
The lawsuit states that the redistricting plan “was designed to deprive, and has deprived, thousands of African American voters living in the Newtown community of the right to vote in the 2020 election for members of the Board of County Commissioners.”
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