Alabama Congressional Map Still in Question for 2024 Election

The 2024 election is just around the corner and Alabama is already facing election issues. This week, a three-judge panel will hear arguments for and against the newly drawn Alabama congressional district map.

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The previous version of the map was struck down because a ruling said it likely disenfranchised Black voters. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's findings, and the map was ordered to be redrawn.

In their ruling, the panel stated that the new map should include two districts in which Black voters should comprise the majority of the voting population. The current map, which has been redrawn, did not create a second district.

As reported by The Hill.com, one group of challengers said, “Alabama’s new congressional map ignores this Court’s preliminary injunction order and instead perpetuates the Voting Rights Act violation that was the very reason that the Legislature redrew the map.”

The State of Alabama is arguing that the map is within traditional redistricting concepts.

Per The Hill's reporting, the state said in court filings that the new plan "prioritizes the Black Belt to the fullest extent possible, even better than Plaintiffs’ alternatives, while still managing to preserve long-recognized communities of interest in the Gulf and Wiregrass."

"Plaintiffs cannot produce an alternative map with a second majority-black district without splitting at least two of those communities of interest.”

If the three-judge panel decides that the new map still disenfranchises Black voters, the court will have to come up with its own plan to remedy the situation.