Most Republican lawmakers have not released their ideas for redrawing Alabama’s congressional districts to comply with a Supreme Court ruling, leading Democrats on Thursday to accuse GOP lawmakers of shutting them down. , and the public, out of the process before next week’s special session on redistricting.
Alabama lawmakers begin a special session Monday to approve a redistricting plan that Republicans have been working on but have not yet unveiled.
“There hasn’t been a public investigation of this and we’re just going to give that map at some point over the weekend, maybe even Monday, and say to it, ‘Vote here,'” Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, said after a meeting of the legislature’s redistricting committee.
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England said he understands the GOP majority will decide what passes, but said “something with a greater risk attached to it than redrawing the congressional map to satisfy a Supreme Court decision” should do “in the light of day.”
A three-judge panel gave Alabama until July 21 to adopt a new congressional map after the US Supreme Court upheld its ruling that the state likely violated the Voting Rights Act with its current plan of only one congressional district with a large number of Black voters .
The Alabama Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment held a meeting Thursday to hear public comments and approve guidelines. House Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle, who serves as co-chairman of the committee, said it will meet Monday to vote on the proposed map.
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Alabama Republicans have yet to release their ideas on how to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of next week’s special session, prompting criticism from state Democratic lawmakers.
While Democrats have accused Republicans of keeping the process secret, Pringle said they are proceeding as quickly as possible. He said the proposed map will be sent to committee members as soon as possible before Monday’s meeting.
“We’re doing that as quickly as possible,” Pringle said.
Alabama now has only one majority-Black district in seven in a state where more than one in four residents are Black. The three-judge panel said in its 2022 decision that Alabama should have “two districts in which Black voters may comprise a voting-age majority or something close to it.”
Republicans have the numbers to approve a plan without support from Democratic lawmakers. However, the plan must go back before a three-judge panel. GOP lawmakers risk the court stepping in and making its own plan if lawmakers stray too far from the court’s wishes.
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The group of Black voters who won the Supreme Court case urged committee members Thursday to use their proposed map. It would fix the state’s 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, to create what was described as an “opportunity” district because it would give Black voters, who now make up 50% of the voting-age population, a larger one. opportunity to choose a candidate of their choice. The proposed district covers several Black Belt counties and part of Mobile County.
Some of the plaintiffs described how they joined the lawsuit after seeing their communities ignored by white Republicans representing their areas.
“I want my community to have a seat at that table,” said Shalela Dowdy of Mobile.
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Some Democrats in the legislative committee disagreed on how to reconfigure the map.
Sen. said. Vivian Davis figures, D-Mobile, that she will introduce the plaintiffs’ map at next week’s session because it is “in compliance with the court’s order.”
Sen. favored. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, a rival proposal that would redistrict the 6th Congressional District, now represented by Republican Rep. Gary Palmer, so it includes all of Jefferson County, which is home to Birmingham.
Smitherman argued that a Democrat would have a better chance of being elected in a racially diverse district. “Jefferson County is the melting pot,” he said.