ALBANY – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Albany County to redraw the lines of its county legislature to create a new district where minority voters are in the majority, finding that current lines dilute the voting strength of blacks in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Northern District Judge Lawrence Kahn concluded that the four majority-minority districts (MMDs) that were provided for in the latest redistricting for the county legislature, based on the 2010 census, are insufficient and that a fifth MMD must be created.

He ruled in Pope v. County of Albany, 1:11-cv-0736, that the plaintiffs have plausibly shown that “racial bias is operating through the medium of the targeted electoral structure to impair minority political opportunities,” despite “laudable” efforts over the past decades to increase minority representation in county government.