Louisiana voting rights organizations prepare for elections after Callais

Rhonda Sonnenberg, The Southern Poverty Law Center

Just days before the U.S. Supreme Court set voting rights back at least a half century, Norris Henderson, executive director and co-founder of the New Orleans-based Voice of the Experienced (VOTE), was planning for what would come next — regardless of the court’s ruling in the Louisiana v. Callais case.

Then, on April 29, voting rights advocates saw their worst fear realized. The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled in favor of the defendants in the lawsuit, gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) and effectively legalizing racially discriminatory congressional district maps that will deny voters of color the ability to elect candidates of their own choosing.

This will strike at the heart of the work of Henderson’s nonprofit organization, which helps formerly incarcerated Louisianans and residents of the state who have felony criminal convictions to vote.

Continue reading about how Louisiana voting rights organizations support Black voters.

Learn more about Louisiana’s 2026 congressional redistricting ruling, which also threatens Black voting power.

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