An e-mail from James Valley, a lawyer and former mayor of Helena-West Helena, says he’ll file this lawsuit in federal court today challenging the new state legislative redistricting plan because it diminishes the black voting strength of an East Arkansas Senate District. District 24 has a 53 percent black population, rather than the 58 percent it had before because of shifting population and this isn’t “sufficient” for black voters to elect a candidate of their choice, the lawsuit says. Sen. Jack Crumbly is the incumbent in the district. He’s been threatening a lawsuit for months.

The law doesn’t require redistricting to guarantee re-election of an incumbent.

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