LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The state's motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the boundaries of a redrawn state Senate district in eastern Arkansas has been denied.
U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes on Thursday denied the request by Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel to dismiss the lawsuit before the trial that's to start May 7 in Helena-West Helena.
The lawsuit was filed by state Sen. Jack Crumbly and other east Arkansas residents. It claims the new boundaries for Crumbly's district are discriminatory because it lowers the percentage of voting-age blacks from 58 to 53 percent and asks that the state be ordered to redraw the districts.
Crumbly - who is black - is opposed for re-election by state Rep. Keith Ingram - who is white - in the May 22 primary.
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