Ivey won't call special session to draw new Senate districts

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Friday that she will not call a special session to draw new Alabama Senate districts after a federal judge ruled the current map violates the Voting Rights Act.

Ivey said the state faces uncertainty on how to comply with both the Voting Rights Act rulings and the U.S. Constitution’s provisions against racial discrimination. The governor said she could not “justify the time and expense" of calling a special session.

The decision means the federal court will take over the process of drawing a new map unless the state can get the redistricting order overturned or put on hold.

“As the law currently stands, states like Alabama are put to the virtually impossible task of protecting some voters based on race without discriminating against any other voters based on race. I remain hopeful that we will somehow find the ‘magic map’ that will both satisfy the federal court and also be fair to all Alabamians,” Ivey wrote.

U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco last month ruled the current state Senate map illegally diluted the influence of Black voters around the capital city.

Manasco said a new map must be put in place that creates an additional district in Montgomery where Black voters “comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.” Manasco had said state lawmakers will have the first opportunity to draw the lines, but the court will take over the process if lawmakers don't.

Deuel Ross, of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said Friday that plaintiffs are "disappointed that the governor has declined to take this opportunity to correct the illegal State Senate map.”

"All Alabamians deserve fair maps and the opportunity to have a meaningful voice in the legislature," Ross said.

Alabama is appealing the decision to draw new district lines. State lawyers noted that the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next month in a Louisiana redistricting case.

Louisiana is asking the court to reject any consideration of race in redistricting. The high-stakes case could have an impact on how congressional lines are drawn across the country

The Alabama order stems from a 2021 lawsuit that argued the Alabama Senate district lines diluted the voting strength of Black citizens. The lawsuit maintained that in Montgomery, Black voters were unnecessarily packed into a single district, preventing them from influencing elections elsewhere, while white voters in Montgomery were “surgically” extracted into another district.