The U.S Supreme Court recently denied an appeal made by Alabama against a court order that prohibits the state from conducting elections with gerrymandered congressional maps. The appeal was an offshoot of allegations of racial gerrymandering that Alabama Secretary of State, Wes Allen, has been countering since last year. These charges are rooted in the case of Milligan v. Allen. The case made its appearance in the Supreme Court in June, where the court determined that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claims that the proposed congressional maps were racially skewed. The plaintiffs argued that these maps violated Section Two of the Voting Rights Act.
Following the Supreme Court’s order, Alabama authorized a secondary congressional map which allegedly subjugated African American voters. This was despite the fact that Black residents constitute nearly 27 percent of Alabama’s population, yet represented a majority in only 14 percent of the state’s congressional districts. A federal district court viewed this new map as being no different from the first, resulting in Alabama being barred from holding elections with this map, leading them to file an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The federal district court assigned a Special Master to conceive the new congressional maps, and given the Supreme Court’s most recent order, it is expected that one of the Special Master’s recommendations will be put to use as Alabama’s new congressional map.
In related news, Alabama recently ceased the operation of its “Vote for Alabama” application, which had been created by the previous Secretary of State with the intent of aiding Alabamians in voter registration and locating their polling places. The app was discontinued to cut costs, based on claims made by Wes Allen.
Earlier this year, Alabama made the decision to terminate their involvement in the Election Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit organization that promotes the accuracy of the U.S’s voter rolls and broadens access to voter registration for all entitled citizens. Alabama plans to maintain its own voter integrity database to ensure clean and accurate voter rolls.
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