Fayette finalizes district map despite NAACP challenge

A last-minute proposal from the NAACP did not change the outcome of Fayette County’s voting district map revision. The Board of Commissioners voted 3-1-1 recently to endorse a new map with 2020 census-driven tweaks to districts 2 and 4 that was devised in consultation with attorney Bryan Tyson. Charles Rousseau voted in opposition and Lee Hearn, who is quarantined with COVID-19, attended remotely but could not vote.

The NAACP’s Legal Defense & Educational Fund sent a nine-page letter and a draft of its own proposed map to the commission asking the county to adopt “a map that that would reflect the voting power of Black and other voters of color in District 4 and District 1.” However, a majority of the commissioners said that there was simply no time left to negotiate or vote on further changes to its draft map, which had been presented at previous public hearings and must be finalized this month for state legislature approval in January.

The county’s current district map is the result of a 2013 legal settlement with the NAACP over minority representation.