DOJ alleges discrimination in Galveston County voting rights case

The U.S. Justice Department has filed a voting rights lawsuit against Galveston County challenging the county's redistricting plan adopted late last year and alleging that the plan discriminated against Black and Hispanic voters, federal officials announced Thursday. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, alleges that Galveston County violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by dismantling the "only district in which Black and Hispanic voters had the opportunity to elect a candidate of choice to the county's governing body," according to the justice department.

“This action is the latest demonstration of the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the voting rights of all Americans, particularly during the current redistricting cycle,” said assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "We will continue to use all available tools to challenge voting discrimination in our country.” The redistricting plan was approved Nov. 12, 2021, by the county's commissioners court in the wake of the 2020 Census release. The county has tried to "diminish or eliminate" voting opportunities for Black and Hispanic voters on several occasions in the past three decades, the complaint alleges. The lawsuits asks the court to ban Galveston County from conducting elections under the plan and to order the county to devise and implement a new redistricting plan in compliance with voting rights.