Black voters made up almost 32% of the ballots counted on Louisiana’s first day of early voting, a higher share than on the opening day of any election since 2008 except the 2020 presidential race, according to the Louisiana Illuminator’s analysis of state data. They did it in a state whose new congressional map no longer has the majority-Black district it had in the spring.
That is the pattern five days before the Nov. 3 midterms. In several Southern states where Republican legislatures redrew House maps after the Supreme Court narrowed the Voting Rights Act, Black turnout is running high.
What the maps did
On April 29, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana’s 6th District, a corridor linking Black communities from Baton Rouge to Shreveport, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion sharply limited Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the provision that lets voters challenge maps that dilute their power. Rep. Cleo Fields, who held the seat, later said he would not seek reelection.
Capital B, which is tracking races in 10 states, lists the changes since: Louisiana eliminated one of its two majority-Black districts. Alabama went back to a map that cuts the Black voting-age population in one district from 49% to 40%. Tennessee split majority-Black Memphis among three districts. North Carolina swapped heavily Black areas for Republican-leaning ones. Texas packed Black and Latino voters into Houston’s 18th District.
Alabama voting rights plaintiff Evan Milligan told Capital B: “We deserve a fair shot at electing officials, regardless of party, who understand our lives and our goals.”
What the early vote shows
In Georgia, more than 188,000 ballots were cast on the first day of early voting, a record for a midterm, and Black voters were more than 36% of them, according to the election data site VoteHub. Nearly 1.8 million ballots had been accepted statewide through Oct. 26, with early voting ending Friday.
North Carolina had 501,321 ballots cast as of Oct. 19, against 362,643 at the same point in 2022, WBTV reported. Black voters accounted for 22.8% of them.
In Louisiana, nearly 115,000 people voted on day one. Only the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections drew more on an opening day in recent years. Democrats told the Illuminator the Black turnout made them cautiously optimistic in the U.S. Senate race between Jamie Davis, a Black farmer, and Republican Rep. Julia Letlow.
Early-vote shares are not results. They say who has voted so far, not who will win, and none of these figures predicts the outcome of any race. Pew Research Center found that 70% of Black voters back Democratic candidates and 7% back Republicans.
The races now carry the weight of the maps. In Tennessee’s 9th District, Justin J. Pearson, a Democrat, faces Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor in a Memphis seat that was redrawn. In Alabama’s 2nd, Rep. Shomari Figures, a Democrat, faces Republican Rhett Marques. Mississippi’s Senate race pits Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith against Democrat Scott Colom.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Georgia’s early voting closes Friday, Oct. 30.
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