Republicans Fail to Stop New Voting Maps From Expanding Black Voter Influence

After an arduous two year legal battle, Black voting rights in Alabama prevailed over the Republican Party’s persistent and unconstitutional attempts to undermine them—at least to some extent.

A three-judge federal panel ordered the adoption of a redrawn voting map which will likely shift at least one federal Congressional seat away from Republicans in the 2024 election thanks to the expanded influence of Black voters in two districts, reducing their razor-thin (and chaotic) majority.

Alabama Republicans triggered this conflict when they redrew the voting maps in 2021, reducing the influence of Black votes to one of the state’s seven congressional districts—despite the fact 27% of the state’s population are Black. A three-judge panel struck it down in 2022 on the grounds that it probably violated the Voting Rights Act.

In turn, Republicans appealed to the United States Supreme Court. But even a majority on this regressively conservative iteration of the Court was unimpressed, ultimately reaffirming the ruling of the three-judge panel. They ordered Alabama to redraw the maps with at least two majority Black voting districts.

Instead, Alabama Republicans defied the courts and drew another iteration of the maps which only marginally increased the share of Black voters in a second district. Republican Governor Kay Ivey celebrated the map and tried to sign it into law, claiming that Alabama Republicans understand the needs of their state better than the Supreme Court.

The defiant maps were reviewed once more by the same three-judge panel who struck down the first drafts and the result was entirely predictable: they struck the second drafts down too—and rebuked Alabama Republicans for their open defiance of the Supreme Court.

Today’s more democratic maps are a result of the three-judge panel taking the proverbial pen out of the Republicans’ hands and putting it in the hands of an appointed special master.

Though we should savor both the fact that Black voters have more influence in Alabama than they previously did and the bad faith, antidemocratic state Republicans have been rebuked, it should be noted that even this map doesn’t exactly comply with the letter of the Supreme Court’s rulings—which demanded at least two majority black districts. Though the 2nd Congressional district is, the 7th is merely 48.7%.