LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe is scheduled to testify Tuesday in a trial over a lawsuit challenging the boundaries of a redrawn eastern Arkansas Senate district.
Sen. Jack Crumbly, D-Widener, is one of 24 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit alleging that the new boundaries of District 16 are discriminatory because they lower the percentage of voting-age blacks from 58 percent to 53 percent. They are seeking an injunction ordering the state to redraw the district.
The state Board of Apportionment, comprised of Beebe, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and Secretary of State Mark Martin, redrew the state’s 100 House seats and 35 Senate seats last year. Beebe has said it was necessary to lower the percentage of black voters in some districts so that blacks would not lose a majority in any of the state’s four black-majority Senate districts.
The bench trial is scheduled to start Monday in U.S. District Court at Helena-West Helena. U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes has scheduled up to five days for the trial.
Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said Thursday the governor is scheduled to testify at 9 a.m. Tuesday. It will be the first time Beebe has testified in a court proceeding since becoming governor, DeCample said.