ting Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act." To underscore the importance of the Public Mapping Project to minority voting interests, the Department of Justice states
Thus, plans drawn by the public may factor into the Department of Justice's decision to approve a redistricting plan submitted by a covered jurisdiction.
What Is Required in Practice
In practice, Section 2 and Section 5 essentially require that at least the same number of minority opportunity districts in a previous redistricting plan must be drawn in a new redistricting plan. Section 5 explicitly requires this, and Section 2 has been litigated in most parts of the country. There are two exceptions:
It is beyond the capabilities of most ordinary citizens -- and sometimes even redistricting authorities! -- to comply with all the intricacies of the Voting Rights Act. To provide clues as to whether or not your districts are in compliance, on the statistics sidebar on the righthand side of the plan editor, we report the number of districts with more than 50% minority voting-age population (VAP) in the plan used for the previous decade and the number in the plan you are drawing. Typically, you should have at least the same number in your plan as in the previous plan.