Wes Allen says legal portion of redistricting process is not completed

On Thursday, the three-judge panel announced Alabama’s new congressional district map they selected for the state. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen responded to the three-judge panel’s selection of map number three.

Map three partitions the Wiregrass, Mobile County, and even Mobile City.

Map one, also partitioning Houston County, had been the most popular among the plaintiffs, while two was the least popular choice. The State of Alabama opposed all three of the maps.

Allen and Attorney General Steve Marshall have vowed to continue to appeal.

“The Office of the Secretary of State will facilitate the 2024 election cycle in accordance with the map the federal court has forced upon Alabama and ordered us to use,” said Allen. “It is important for all Alabamians to know that the legal portion of this process has not yet been completed. A full hearing on the redistricting issue will take place in the future, and I trust Attorney General Marshall to represent Alabama through that process. In the meantime, I will keep our state’s elections safe, secure, and transparent because that is what I was elected to do.”

The three-judge panel ruled that the map passed in the July 2023 special session did not allow Alabama’s Black minority to select their own representative, thus violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The three-judge panel then appointed Richard Allen as a special master to draw new maps. The three maps all radically redrew the First and Second Congressional Districts. Republican incumbent Congressmen Jerry Carl and Barry Moore both now live in Congressional District One. Carl has announced that he will run for reelection. Moore, on the other hand, has said that he is going to wait before deciding on his future plans.

The three-judge panel ordered that the maps be redrawn so that two of the seven congressional districts are majority-minority districts “or something close to it.”

The Legislature refused to draw a map that complied with the court’s order, resulting in the court rejecting the state legislature’s map. The state has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court; however, both the three-judge panel and the Supreme Court have refused to stay the court-ordered redistricting while the state appeals the ruling of the lower court, citing their belief that the state is unlikely to prevail in its appeal.

Thursday’s announcement brings clarity for voters and candidates. Democratic qualifying began last Friday, while Republican qualifying does not begin until October 16.

The major party primary will be on March 5.

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