DURHAM, N.C. (May 14, 2026) — Southern states have rushed to strip fair representation from communities of color in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s devastating decision late last month dismantling a major piece of the nation’s landmark Voting Rights Act.
State elected officials in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee have acted with breathtaking speed since the April 29 decision in Lousiana v. Callais to dismantle majority-Black districts in their Congressional voting maps. Other states like Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina are contemplating the same. But they have faced fierce resistance from people across the South refusing to be silent in the face of this injustice harkening back to the days of Jim Crow.
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:
Southern states are on a frenzied power grab after the Supreme Court’s shameless decision last month to dismantle a key piece of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights legislation that ended Jim Crow.
As leaders of voting rights groups in the South, we know all too well the callous and ruthless tactics deployed to amass power at any cost. But the people of the South are not taking this sitting down, with mass resistance in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee putting lawmakers on notice that these attempts to erase Black and Brown political power will not stand.
We know the power of organizing in the South and will keep speaking out in our communities and at the ballot box for a future where our votes and voices are heard.
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)
- One Voice (Mississippi)
- ProGeorgia
- Progress Georgia
- Southern Coalition for Social Justice (regional)
- State Voices Florida
- Power Coalition for Equity and Justice (Louisiana)
- Mi Familia en Accion (Texas)
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.
Alabama Values is a grassroots communications organization working to raise awareness and increase engagement around community issues in Alabama and across the Deep South. They work directly with grassroots civic organizations advocating to build power and break down barriers to civic participation for communities across the state. Learn more here.