Alabama lawmakers are divided on eve of major redistricting deadline impacting Black voters

By KIM CHANDLER
Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers are divided over adopting new congressional districts. State lawmakers face a Friday deadline to adopt new lines after the U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a three-judge panel’s decision that the current state map — with one majority-Black district out of seven in a state that is 27% Black — likely violates the federal Voting Rights Act. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have sparred over what constitutes the state-ordered “opportunity” district. Republican-controlled committees are advancing separate plans in both chambers that increase the number of Black voters in the state’s 2nd congressional district, but fail to establish a second majority-Black district.