MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers on Friday refused to create a second majority-Black congressional district, a move that could defy a recent order from the U.S. Supreme Court to give minority voters a greater voice in elections and trigger a renewed battle over the state’s political map.
The legislation now goes to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who is expected to sign it.
Lawmakers in the Republican-dominated House and Senate instead passed a plan that would increase the percentage of Black voters from about 31% to 40% in the state’s 2nd District. A conference committee proposed the map as a compromise between plans that had percentages of 42% and 38%, respectively, for the southeast Alabama district.
Republicans argued that the proposal complies with a court order to create a district where Black voters could influence the outcome of congressional elections. But Black lawmakers said the new map invoked the state’s Jim Crow history of treating Black voters unfairly and flouted a directive from a three-judge panel to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it” so that Black voters “have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.”
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The court will draw it.