The U.S. Department of Justice has given preclearance to new legislative districts for use in the 2014 elections.  The
decision was a victory for legislative Republicans who were drawing
their first lines as majority party. However, the plan still faces a
lawsuit from African-American lawmakers who claim the districts dilute
the voting influence of minorities. …Democrats have complained the new lines pack African-American voters
into the existing minority districts. White districts would  have
fewer minority voters, which along with other boundary changes, would
favor the election of Republicans, Democrats complained.

“I’ve
never seen such a racially gerrymandered plan as this one,” Senate
Minority Leader Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said this afternoon.

“They are trying to make white Democrats extinct. They are packing the black districts,” Bedford said.

Link to full story at Al.com.