Alabama congressional redistricting: Plaintiffs, state nominate new cartographers
Plaintiffs and the attorneys for the state Friday filed a list of proposed cartographers to potentially draw new congressional districts in Alabama.
The three judges overseeing the case asked for recommendations after the previous cartographer, Nathaniel Persiley, a Stanford University School of Law, withdrew from the case on Monday. Both parties were asked to recommend between three and five cartographers by Friday.
The court in January 2022 ruled that Alabama’s 2021 congressional map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by packing Black voters into a single congressional district, and ordered the state to draw new maps with a second congressional district with a majority-Black district or “something quite close to it.” The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling last month.
The Alabama Legislature on July 21 approved a Republican-backed map that included a single majority-Black congressional district and a district with 40% Black population. Republicans said the map gave Black voters an opportunity to elect the representatives of their choosing. Democrats said it failed to address the court’s guidelines. If the court finds the map unsatisfactory, it could order a third party, known as a special master, to draw new maps. A cartographer would be part of the process.
https://alabamareflector.com/2023/07/31/alabama-congressional-redistricting-plaintiffs-state-nominate-new-cartographers/