BATON ROUGE — Five members of the East Baton Rouge Metro Council filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging district maps set to be used for this fall's elections, saying their colleagues adopted a plan that dilutes Black voting strength.

The council members suing — Chauna Banks, Lamont Cole, Carolyn Coleman, Chauna Banks and Cleve Dunn Jr. — were joined by Lael Montgomery, a former Zachary council member, and Eugene Collins, a former president of the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP. They identify themselves as East Baton Rouge Parish residents and constituents.

The five said demographers unfairly packed Black voters into a limited number of districts and, in turn, essentially guaranteed that White council members would hold a majority. There are more Black people in East Baton Rouge Parish than White people, though neither group holds a majority.

"Although white voters are declining in numbers in Baton Rouge, the August 2022 map would increase the entrenchment of white control of the Metro Council by creating a new majority-white council district," the federal lawsuit says.

Census tallies show that, between 2010 and 2020, the Black population climbed 5 percent in East Baton Rouge while the White population fell by 9 percent, the lawsuit says. Even though Black people hold a plurality in the parish and makeup 46 percent of its population, White council members outnumber Black members 7-5.

Metro Council member Cleve Dunn Jr. said since the map was first passed, the group worked on a strategy to fight back. 

"We tried to remedy this and remedy this on the metro council, but we failed," Dunn said. "We presented maps which we thought were equitable. It was a six-to-six council which didn't get the seven votes to pass. And our colleagues voted seven to five to maintain the status quo."

And, according to the lawsuit, the demographer hired by the city-parish to create the maps told council members that retaining seven White members would not be "a fair representation of the Black population."

The lawsuit names the city, the parish, election supervisors, the clerk of court, the registrar of voters, and the Louisiana Secretary of State as defendants.

According to their lawsuit, the maps to be used in this fall's election put 68 percent of the parish's Black voters into 42 percent of the parish's council districts.

Mayor-President Tem Lamont Cole says the consequences of the divide are apparent. 

"We represent over 200 thousand African Americans who live in this city-parish," Cole said. "They have consistently said to us they are sick and tired of being sick and tired of seeing unfair treatment, underserved communities, lack of housing, lack of access to health care, lack of resources in their communities."

Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome made the following comments during the press conference:

"I want to make a comment as Mayor-President in support of our council members and their initiative," Broome said. "I will tell you that when they first started talking about it, I wholeheartedly supported it then and I wholeheartedly support it now. As I said in a recent statement, the numbers don't add up. You are talking about one area that is all about the numbers and the demographics of our city and our community. So, we are not fully represented as a community, and hopefully their initiative and their lawsuit will get us there. I want commend all of the council members for taking this step of courage and demonstration for not just the council members here, but for the Metro Council in the future, so thank you all for what you do."