This story was first published by the Louisiana Illuminator. To read the original report, click here.
Louisiana lawmakers will begin a veto override session at noon Wednesday to try to approve a congressional redistricting map that Gov. John Bel Edwards rejected, according to ballots that legislators submitted last week. The results were made public Monday.
The decision to hold the veto session was mostly along party lines with all 12 Senate Democrats and 32 House Democrats returning ballots that indicated they did not want to hold the session. One Democrat, Rep. Francis Thompson of Delhi, sided with Republicans.
Edwards vetoed two identical U.S. House maps that lawmakers approved in February. They maintain the status quo of white Republican control in five of Louisiana’s six congressional districts despite Census data showing one-third of the state’s population is Black.
The veto session will require lawmakers to pause the current 2022 Regular Session for up to three days.
Overriding Edwards’ veto, which requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber, will be a difficult though not impossible challenge as Republicans hold a super-majority in the Senate but are two votes shy in the House.