SAVANNAH, Ga. — On Saturday, voting rights advocates raised their voices in protest against the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision on racial gerrymandering, specifically addressing the implications for Section Two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In a coordinated effort, Coastal Georgia Partners—a coalition of local, non-partisan organizations focused on voting rights—gathered to emphasize the importance of using the power of the vote.
This event was part of a broader national initiative called “All Roads Lead to the South,” where the group expressed its disapproval of the Supreme Court’s ruling that criticized Louisiana’s congressional map for its excessive reliance on racial considerations.
Chassidy Malloy, president of the League of Women Voters Coastal Georgia, voiced concerns during the rally, stating, “This recent decision will make it more challenging for Black Georgians to have their voices truly heard at the ballot box.”
The controversy arose after Louisiana’s congressional boundaries were redrawn in 2024 to include a second majority-Black district, a move the Supreme Court now deems unconstitutional.
Protestors said the decision goes against the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Mayor Van Johnson spoke at today’s event, saying, “The Voting Rights Act came about, which essentially said, “We want to make sure that those that are represented have the opportunity to pick who represents them,’ not that the representatives get to pick the people who are elected.”
After this ruling in Louisiana, South Carolina leaders held a session considering redistricting.
“In all of my almost five decades, I never saw where we were redistricting in the middle of a ten-year cycle,” said Johnson. “Yet now we’re seeing South Carolina, ‘we’ll do it’ and Georgia, ‘we’re not going to do it,’ but guess what, they’re going to do it.”
While the initial redistricting attempt failed in South Carolina, spoke to people at the event who said they are afraid of Georgia’s leaders trying.
Coco Papy with Coastal Georgia Partners said, “I don’t want people to look at this as a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It is not. Gerrymandering hurts everyone. It makes it so that races are not fair. It makes it so that people are not truly represented, and it impacts everyone.”
Many said they won’t stand for it or go back in history to a time before the Voting Rights Act.
“We have to fight in order to keep what our forefathers fought for,” said Jerome Irwin, Sr. with Savannah Building Futures. “People who have bled and died to try to get the right to vote and get these districts to where it is. And if we don’t stand here and fight for it, it’s no use doing anything…even living.”
The protestors’ said their ultimate goal is getting everyone to the polls on Tuesday.
“When we have the people, we want to be elected to the office, we can demand them,” said Papy. “Hey, I need you to represent me better on this, right? I don’t like that you did this or I did like that you did this. Please do more of this. So, I want people to remember that.”