Voting district lines equal political power. This is why communities redistricted after the 2020 U.S. census results were released, creating new district maps to reflect demographic changes.
But five years after the census, the city of Abbeville, Louisiana, is still on its first attempt at drawing new districts. As an attorney for voting rights with the Southern Poverty Law Center, I have been fortunate enough to witness inspirational community activism to ensure fair district maps in Abbeville.
The “One Person, One Vote” requirement of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires jurisdictions to have districts with equal population. According to the census, Abbeville’s population dropped to 11,186. The ideal population size for each of the four City Council districts is 2,797. Yet Abbeville’s deviation from this ideal size is as high as 10% in one district. The map as a whole deviates 19.3% between the smallest and largest districts.
Under federal law, Abbeville had to redistrict to ensure fairness in the maps. The Vermilion NAACP members understood this.
Since 2021, they have been advocating for the city to adopt a map that does not dilute the power of voters. The 2020 census highlighted not only the deviation issue, but also the matter of packing Black residents into one district where their ability to elect representatives of their choice across the city would have been weaker. One of the districts has a Black voting-age population of nearly 70%. What’s more, a majority of the Vermilion Parish NAACP’s members live there.
The NAACP asked Abbeville to unpack Black residents from this district so that these voters would have an equal opportunity to participate in the citywide electoral process.
The group provided Abbeville with three maps that lowered the deviation and unpacked the Black supermajority district. But the Abbeville City Council rejected them. On Oct. 17, 2023, the SPLC, representing the Vermilion NAACP, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Abbeville violated the “One Person, One Vote” requirement.
After a year and a half of litigation, the lawsuit finally forced Abbeville to redistrict. Abbeville presented a map with a deviation lower than 19.3% to the public on July 14, 2024, but it did not address the issue of packing Black residents into one district. Nevertheless, the NAACP had another map ready. It was crafted to respond to Abbeville’s rejections of its prior maps.
Abbeville, again, disregarded this map and was ready to pass its own map on Aug. 5.
Hearing this, the Vermilion NAACP took action. It did what it does best: It organized the community around the right to vote. The group hosted a town hall and went around Abbeville educating the community about its recommended map and how it provided equal voting power.
The group’s grassroots advocacy paid off at the Aug. 5 City Council meeting.
The City Council voted unanimously to put the Vermilion NAACP map on the agenda for a vote. Before the vote on the two maps, one of the council members said that the city should improve its map in keeping with the NAACP map. The City Council backed down from supporting its flawed map and is reconvening to create a better map based on voter feedback.
This is a win.
While passage of the Vermilion NAACP’s map would have put an end to a multiyear process, the fact that the city is finally doing its job — working to represent all residents fairly — is a step in the right direction.
The Vermilion NAACP is monitoring the process for the next map and is ready to uphold the right to vote in free and fair elections. We are lucky to have them fighting for equal voting power in the Deep South.
Ahmed Soussi is a senior staff attorney with the SPLC’s Democracy: Voting Rights litigation team.
Photo at top: Ahmed Soussi, a senior staff attorney with the SPLC’s Democracy: Voting Rights litigation team, speaks to the Abbeville, Louisiana, City Council at its meeting on July 15, 2025, regarding the proposed redistricting of the City Council districts. (Credit: Dwayne Fatherree)