May 09, 2026 | Read Online (
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)​

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The TTV Weekly Wrap Up
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This week continued last week's rage on the redistricting
battlefield. A quick look back: on April 27, the Supreme Court
upheld Texas's redrawn congressional map — a 6-3 decision
expected to deliver Republicans up to five additional House seats
in the Lone Star state. Two days later, the Court handed down
Louisiana v. Callais, ending the race-based districting that had
been a defining element of the Voting Rights Act since its
passage over sixty years ago, in a very different America.

Together, the two rulings have unleashed a wave of redrawing
across the country. Florida moved within an hour of Callais.
Louisiana suspended its May 16 primary so it could redraw. The
Tennessee House has already approved a new map. Alabama and South
Carolina are right behind. The American congressional map is
being redrawn under voters' feet, in real time.

To understand why, you have to start in 1965.

The Voting Rights Act, passed in '65, created two enforcement
mechanisms. Section 2 was a nationwide prohibition on voting
practices that discriminated by race. Section 5 was more
aggressive — it required select jurisdictions to "preclear" any
change to their election laws with the federal government before
it took effect. Move a polling place. Add a voter ID rule. Redraw
a district line. Under preclearance, the state or county had to
ask Washington first.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ended that regime. Shelby County v.
Holder struck down the coverage formula, holding that Congress
could not run preclearance in the twenty-first century based on
formulas used in 1965 — and inviting Congress to write a new
standard based on current data. Congress didn't, so Section 5
effectively went dormant. But President Obama saw an opportunity.

By January 2017, immediately upon leaving the White House, Barack
Obama and his former Attorney General Eric Holder had launched a
national operation aimed at one thing: controlling who draws the
maps. Not winning elections — drawing the maps. The National
Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) (
[link removed]
), chaired by Holder, quickly raised over a hundred million
dollars and went to work in three places: state legislative
races, ballot initiatives to install so-called "independent"
redistricting commissions, and litigation under every flag that
fit. The lawyer at the center of it was Marc Elias, then at
Perkins Coie, later the founder of both the Elias Law Group and
Democracy Docket (the media operation that simultaneously reports
on and shapes the narrative around the very lawsuits his firm
files.)

For nearly a decade, the NDRC argued that race had to be the
central organizing principle of every congressional map in
America.

Then on April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court handed down Callais —
6-3. The Court held that race-conscious redistricting runs into
the Equal Protection Clause and the Fifteenth Amendment, and that
states almost never have a compelling interest sufficient to
justify it. In plain English: you cannot use race as the
predominant factor when you draw a district.

The reaction was immediate. Six states had already enacted new
mid-decade maps before Callais — North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio,
Utah, Texas, and Virginia. Florida, Louisiana, Alabama,
Tennessee, and South Carolina are now racing to follow. On the
Democratic side, Governor Kathy Hochul has vowed a constitutional
amendment to redraw New York. Hakeem Jeffries has named Maryland
and Illinois as targets. Maryland passed its own state Voting
Rights Act twenty-four hours before Callais came down, and
Governor Wes Moore has stood up a redistricting advisory
commission to consider new boundaries.

Legal challenges are already piling up. The Purcell principle,
which limits how late federal courts can change election rules
before an election, will determine how much of this is actually
in place by November. Top political forecasters estimate
Republicans will pick up 5 to 10 House seats from the
redistricting wars; the high end could reach 13 to 19. In a House
where the majority has been decided by a handful of seats in each
of the last three cycles, that is a structural shift.

Here is where this leaves us. Both parties are now drawing maps
for naked partisan advantage. The pretenses are dropping on both
sides. The underlying machinery is the same.

In one sense, that's an improvement. Sorting voters by skin color
and packing them into districts was always a constitutional
embarrassment dressed up as civil rights. Callais ended that. But
honesty in the rationale is not the same as good representation.
A brazenly partisan map can still produce a House where most
members never face a competitive election, and where most voters
live in a district whose outcome was settled in a state
legislature five years earlier.

The only check on either party's worst impulses is informed
citizens showing up — at the state house, the county clerk's
office, the local board — and refusing to look away.

If you want to see the voting-rights landscape this story is
reshaping, we've built an interactive map (
[link removed]
) showing where federal preclearance coverage, same-day voter
registration, and post-Callais redistricting all overlap, state
by state.

We also tracked Louisiana's mapping efforts, covered a new
conviction in a New Jersey voter fraud case, and got the scoop on
the DOJ's expanding investigation into Fulton County's 2020
election operations — plus podcasts, apps, and more. Check it out
👇

In Case You Missed It...
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Where Voters Rights Stand
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Three eras of voters rights, on one map. See which states were
under federal preclearance, which allow same-day registration,
and which are redrawing their congressional maps after Callais.

-->Check Out the Map (
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)
Check Out the Map ( [link removed] )

(
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)

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LA Begins Redrawing Maps
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Since the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's congressional
map, lawmakers have been rushing to redraw district lines — a
redistricting battle with national implications ahead of the
midterms.

-->Read the Article (
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)
Read the Article (
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)

(
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Fraud That “Never Happens”...Happened
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A former New Jersey mayoral candidate has pled guilty to forging
voter registration applications — adding to growing concerns
over election integrity, registration safeguards, and public
trust in the process.

-->Read the Article (
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)
Read the Article (
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)

(
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DOJ Expands Fulton Election Probe
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The DOJ issued (
[link removed]
) a grand jury subpoena seeking information on everyone involved
in Fulton's 2020 election operations. Fulton moved to quash (
[link removed]
) it. Separately, a judge denied (
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) the county’s attempt to recover the election-related records
previously seized by the DOJ.

-->Review the Records (
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)
Review the Records (
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)

Lead From Where You Stand
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The Bottom Line
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Redistricting determines the structural shape of representation
for the next ten years. Court rulings are moving faster than most
Americans realize, the 2020 election is still under federal
investigation, and voter fraud cases that were once waved away as
anomalies are now producing convictions. Keep pressing for
truth. Transparency only happens when citizens refuse to look
away.

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What You Can Do
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* ​Read Callais. (
[link removed]
) The opinion is short enough to read in an evening, and it's the
most consequential election-law ruling in a generation.
* Find your district. Pull up your state's congressional map and
check whether your district is being redrawn. (
[link removed]
)If it is, look at how the lines are changing and who that
affects. Most state legislatures have a public redistricting
portal.
* Check out the interactive map (
[link removed]
) above. It will show you where your state sits across
preclearance coverage, same-day registration, and post-Callais
redistricting. Send the link to one person who thinks none of
this affects them.
* Track legislation with LegiTrack (
[link removed]
). Set alerts on bills moving through your state on elections,
redistricting, and voter rolls.
* ​Join TTV Now (
[link removed]
) to connect with grassroots leaders in your state, access our
apps and trainings, and get plugged into the work happening near
you.
* Pray for discernment, courage, and steadfastness in the days
ahead.
* ​Please donate if you can. (
[link removed]
) Every dollar funds the work — investigations, technology,
trainings, and the legal fights that keep election integrity
moving forward.

​

You weren't meant to do this alone. Find your community, your
tools, your purpose.

-->Become a Member (
[link removed]
)
Become a Member (
[link removed] )

Stay ahead of the legislation shaping your elections and know
when it's time to act.

-->Join LegiTrack (
[link removed]
)
Join LegiTrack ( [link removed] )

-----------------
Grounded in Truth
-----------------

A weekly word from the TTV team. Want one every day? Join us in
TTV Now.

Father, we recognize that the voice of fear tends to be louder
than Your voice of truth in our lives. It magnifies the
“what-ifs,” minimizes Your promises, and plants doubt within our
minds. It creates hesitation and attempts to stop us from
stepping into what You have called us to do. But we want to
replace those thoughts with Your truths. Remind us that fear does
not come from You. You are the God of peace, clarity, and
purpose. Give us the discernment to recognize the lies when they
speak. Help us expose them, reject them, and replace them with
Your peace which surpasses all understanding.

And Father, please grant us the courage to move. Give us the
strength to step forward even when the path is unclear, to obey
even when it feels uncomfortable, and to trust You even when we
do not see the full picture. Help us to stand firm on Your
promise that we are not walking alone, but that You have gone
before us, stand beside us, and walk with us into every place You
have called us to be. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

~ Jenna Riggs

For more prayers and encouragement from Jenna, join our
Devotionals Space (
[link removed]
) in the TTVN Community!

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Until Next Week
---------------

Remember ... you don't need a law degree to make a difference.
You need attention and the willingness to show up. The work that
actually changes things doesn't happen in Washington — it happens
on the streets, at the kitchen table, person to person.
Washington follows culture. That's how it's always been.

True the Vote will keep doing our part. With faith, with
steadiness, and with you alongside us, we'll keep building toward
the country we know is possible.

​

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Stand With Us ( truethevote.org/donate )We can't do this without
you — and we wouldn't want to.

Thank you for your support.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
----------------------

Catch TTVN LIVE with Catherine and Meg, every Wednesday at 12p
ct/1p et!
​

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Get TTV Now Livestreams (
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