DURHAM, N.C. (July 9, 2026) — State elected officials in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee have acted with breathtaking speed since the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais to dismantle majority-Black districts in their Congressional voting maps. State leaders like Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama have called this gutting of the Voting Rights Act “plain common sense” that “enables our values to be best represented in Congress.”
As the nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the following is a statement from a working group of state-based leaders from the Southern Leadership for Voter Engagement (SOLVE) Network, a non-partisan coalition of more than 300 Southern grassroots voting rights organizations and advocates staffed and operated by Southern Coalition for Social Justice:
Since the Supreme Court’s devastating decision two months ago in Louisiana v. Callais gutting a major piece of the Voting Rights Act, Southern states including Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee rushed to pass contorted Congressional voting maps at the expense of Black and Brown political power. South Carolina and Georgia politicians made similar efforts to redraw Congressional maps, but strong public opposition stalled those efforts for now.
The Southern politicians pushing these unfair voting maps claimed it was to support “common sense” changes that would bring “conservative values” to Congress.
But those stated values, reminiscent of the carefully chosen language once used to defend Jim Crow, fail to acknowledge communities that reflect the South’s incredible diversity.
Our groups, representing nonpartisan voting rights advocates in 10 Southern states, are in staunch opposition to these undemocratic power grabs and will continue to push for what has long been promised in our democracy but yet to be delivered.
In contrast to those pushing these whitewashed maps that don’t value communities of interest, our values revolve around a vision of the South that puts the hopes, dreams, and desires of its people first. We are committed to eliminating the white supremacy that has caused immeasurable harm to our people for far too long.
These unjust maps prevent our communities from having the political representation they deserve and create stark barriers to access to more robust healthcare, public schools that truly serve every child, and economic policies that allow families to prosper.
Power rests with the people today just as it always has, and we know these blatant attempts to silence the voices of Black and Brown Southerners will be reversed in time. We will continue our work educating and empowering communities to understand the power of their voices and votes in determining our collective future.
Organizations signing on to the statement include:
- Alabama Forward
- Alabama Values
- Be The Ones (South Carolina)
- Civic Tennessee
- Common Cause North Carolina
- Equal Ground (Florida)
- Mississippi NAACP
- One Voice (Mississippi)
- Power Coalition for Equity and Justice (Louisiana)
- ProGeorgia
- Southern Coalition for Social Justice (regional)
- State Voices Florida
Media interviews available upon request.
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SOLVE (Southern Leadership for Voter Engagement), a project of Southern Coalition for Social Justice, is a multi-state collaborative of over 300 Southern organizations dedicated to sharing strategies, resources, and support in the ongoing struggle to protect and expand voting rights. Learn more here and follow our work on Instagram.