The Alabama Legislature gave final approval Wednesday to new congressional, legislative, and school board districts for the state to use over the next decade, but both Republicans and Democrats expect the plans to be litigated in court.
The plans are expected to maintain Republicans’ six-to-one edge in the congressional delegation and lopsided majority at the Alabama Statehouse. Democrats unsuccessfully proposed the creation of a swing district centered in Birmingham that would be competitive for the two political parties.
The maps now go to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature. If approved, they will be used in the 2022 elections.
This is the first time lawmakers do not face the burden of preclearance by the Justice Department — after the U.S. Supreme Court removed the requirement — but lawmakers expect the plans will be litigated in court challenges.
House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said there are always lawsuits on redistricting plans. But he said the plans are a fair adjustment of district lines to account for population changes.
“We tried to follow everything to the closest letter of the law that we could so we might have a map that would stand … a court hearing,” the Republican speaker said.
Democrats opposed the GOP-drawn lines, arguing they are gerrymandered by improperly dividing counties and communities of interest. They also said the maps do not reflect the state’s increased political and racial diversity.
The plan is expected to maintain the current partisan balance in the seven-member congressional delegation with six Republicans elected from heavily white districts and one Democrat elected from the only majority-white district. Alabama has a population that is about 26% Black.
Republicans voted down Democratic efforts to create one swing congressional district centered in Birmingham that would be competitive between Republicans and Democrats. The swing district would have a population that is 40% Black.
Sen. Rodger Smitherman of Birmingham said the plan would avoid splitting counties and accurately reflects the politics of the area which has substantial numbers of both Republican and Democratic voters.
“That district itself could go either way that the citizens so desire, and that’s reflective of that area,” Smitherman said.
Sen. Jim McClendon, the co-chairman of the redistricting committee, disputed that the congressional districts could be drawn that way without putting the state’s only African American representative at risk of losing an election.
There is already a pending lawsuit challenging the state’s current congressional districts, saying they are “racially gerrymandered” and limit Black voters’ influence in all but one congressional district.
Challenges are also expected to the legislative maps.
The GOP-controlled Legislature in 2017 had to redraw legislative maps under court order to fix racial gerrymandering in 12 districts. The ruling came after Black lawmakers filed a lawsuit challenging the maps as “stacking and packing” Black voters into designated districts to make neighboring districts whiter and more likely to elect conservative Republicans.
House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels said this year that there appeared to be “a lot of packing” of white voters in Republican districts.
“There was more packing on the majority side — 70-80% white districts in areas that I know should be more diverse,” Daniels said.
McCutcheon said in drawing the lines this year that they first drew them without looking at race and based on the existing map and population changes. He said they later calculated the racial composition of districts.
“I’m ready to defend these maps in court and if the past is any indication of what’s to come, I probably will be doing so,” McClendon said.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
