Lawsuit Filed Against Baltimore County Claims Violations Of Voting Rights Act

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the Baltimore County Branch of the NAACP has filed suit against the Baltimore County Council regarding its redistricting plan.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, claims the plan violates the Voting Rights Act by placing too many Black voters in one district, which ultimately weakens Black residents' vote countywide.

The redistricting map was passed unanimously Monday and includes one district comprised of more than 70 percent Black voters. The lawsuit argues that there should be two Black majority districts because Baltimore County’s population is about 30 percent Black.

Five of the seven districts are majority white with another with 46.17 percent white plurality. Only one district would be majority Black at 72.59 percent, according to data released by the Baltimore County Council.

Slightly more than 30 percent of Baltimore County residents are Black, according to U.S. Census data.

“We’ll see you in court,” the ACLU of Maryland tweeted shortly after the council's vote. “The Voting Rights Act isn’t optional.”

Image courtesy of Baltimore County

At a news conference held Tuesday announcing the lawsuit, Gerald Morrison, the first vice president of the Baltimore County Branch of the NAACP, said "packing Black voters in one district dilutes and marginalizes the African American vote in the other six districts" and that the map “continues the racially motivated practice of diluting African American voting strength."

Council members have said they are confident the map will hold up in court.

The ACLU of Maryland and Baltimore County NAACP has proposed a redistricting map that includes two majority Black districts. Ryan Coleman, president of the Randallstown NAACP, told Maryland Matters the proposed map splits majority Black communities including Milford Mill, Owings Mills and Lochearn.

"The only communities that are being affected are minority communities," he said.

Coleman noted that drawing a fourth district with a more than 70 percent Black majority would mean that "Black voters in other districts lose their voice in county council elections."

"Do other African Americans in the 1st and 2nd districts have the opportunity to choose their candidate of choice?" Coleman told Maryland Matters. "No. A person of color has never won a councilmanic election when the voting majority is white."

Baltimore County Council Chair Julian E. Jones Jr., Democrat, happens to be the only Black council member. He released a YouTube video Sunday called "Why Baltimore Co. Council Cannot Create Two African American Majority Districts." Jones argued that creating two majority Black districts would create "non-compact districts." He also stated that splitting his 4th District, which would be 72% Black under the proposal, to create two districts with smaller majorities wouldn't guarantee a Black county council member.

"The members of my district do not want to be split in half," Jones told Maryland Matters. "They don't want to take the chance or the possibility that there could possibly be no African Americans on the county council."

Four Democrats and three Republicans currently occupy the seats on the Baltimore County Council.