Redistricting in Alabama

Elections in Alabama
Federal government Presidential elections 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 1960 1960 elector 1964 1964 elector 1968 1968 elector 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2016 2020 2024 Republican 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 U.S. Senate elections 1819 1822 1822 sp 1826 sp 1828 1831 1834 1837 1837 sp 1840 1841 sp 1842 1847 1848 sp 1849 sp 1853 1855 1858 1868 1870 1872 1872 sp 1876 1878 1878 sp 1880 sp 1882 1884 1888 1890 1894 1896 1897 1900 1903 1907 1907 sp 1908 1911 1914 1914 sp 1918 1920 1920 sp 1924 1926 1930 1932 1936 1938 1938 sp 1942 1944 1946 sp 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1972 1974 1978 1978 sp 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2017 sp 2020 2022 2026 2028 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1819 1821 1823 1825 1827 1829 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 3rd sp 1841 1843 1845 3rd sp 1846 7th sp 1847 3rd sp 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1868 1869 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 6th sp 1882 1883 1st sp 8th sp 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 3rd sp 1896 1898 1900 8th sp 1902 1904 5th sp 1906 1908 2nd sp 1910 1912 1914 3rd sp 8th sp 1916 1918 1919 7th sp 1920 5th sp 1921 4th sp 1922 1923 2nd sp 1924 1926 1928 3rd sp 5th sp 1930 1932 1933 8th sp 1934 1935 1st sp 1936 1938 2nd sp 1940 7th sp 1941 7th sp 1942 1943 3rd sp 1944 3rd sp 1946 1947 8th sp 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 3rd sp 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1989 3rd sp 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 1st sp 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026
State government State elections 1902 1904 1946 1964 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2025 2026 Gubernatorial elections 1819 1821 1823 1825 1827 1829 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1865 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1906 1910 1914 1918 1922 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 1946 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Attorney General elections 1946 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Secretary of State elections 1946 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 State Auditor elections 1970 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 State Treasurer elections 1946 1966 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries elections 1946 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Supreme Court elections 1970 1972 1974 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 Public Service Commission elections 1964 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 Appellate Court elections 2024 2026 Alabama State Board of Education elections 2022 2024 2026 Senate elections 1902 1906 1910 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1983 sp 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 House of Representatives elections 1902 1906 1910 1914 1918 1922 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1983 sp 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Ballot measures 1946 Amendment 4 ("Boswell Amendment") 1951 Amendment 5 1999 Amendment 1 2000 Amendment 2 2006 Amendment 774 2018 Amendment 1 Amendment 2 2020 Amendment 1 2022 Amendment 1 2022 Alabama Recompiled Constitution Ratification Question 2024 Amendment 1 (March) Amendment 1 (November)
Government
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The Alabama Legislature did not redraw or modify their state legislative districts from 1901 until after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 decision in Reynolds v. Sims, in which the court ruled that state legislative districts must be roughly equal in population.

The 1960 case in Gomillion v. Lightfoot successfully challenged racial gerrymandering in the city of Tuskegee.

The 1980 decision in Mobile v. Bolden held that disproportionate effects alone, absent purposeful discrimination, are insufficient to establish a claim of racial discrimination affecting voting and redistricting. However, after the case was remanded to lower court, subsequent litigation and legislation moved the Mobile City Council from at-large elections to single-winner districts, resulting in the election of African Americans to the city council for the first time since Reconstruction.

Despite advances in voting rights, no African American was elected to Congress from Alabama until after redistricting in 1991, in which the 7th congressional district was redrawn to encompass portions of urban Birmingham and Alabama's eastern Black Belt region. The redrawn district, now majority nonwhite, elected Earl Hilliard Sr. to the U.S. House in 1992, becoming the first Black member from Alabama since Jeramiah Haralson in 1877.^[1]

In the 2010 election, both chambers of the legislature flipped parties, with many Democratic members switching parties, resulting in Republicans having control over redistricting for the first time in state history. In the resulting 2010 United States redistricting cycle, the legislature moved to protect Republican incumbents.

In Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial gerrymandering cases pursuant to the Voting Rights Act must be pursued on a district by district basis, rather than by looking at the state as an undifferentiated whole.^[2]

Originally, due to a history of disenfranchisement and unfair voting rules, Alabama's congressional and legislative map-making process was subject to preclearance under the Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. However, the Supreme Court removed the preclearance requirement in Shelby County v Holder.^[3]

After the 2020 Census and the 2020 redistricting cycle, the Alabama Legislature largely instituted the same congressional and legislative maps which have been in place since 1993. Soon after, multiple groups of plaintiffs sued, asserting the districts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs sought the creation of an additional majority-minority district. In Allen v. Milligan, the court ruled 5–4 that Alabama's districts likely violated the VRA, maintained an injunction that required Alabama to create an additional majority-minority district, and held that Section 2 of the VRA is constitutional in the redistricting context.^[4][5]

On October 5, 2023, a panel of three federal judges ruled that Alabama illegally diluted the Black population of southern Alabama into three separate districts, striking down the maps that were put in place a couple years ago, creating a new Black-majority district in southern Alabama, alongside the one in the north stretching from the city of Birmingham to Tuscaloosa.^[6]

On August 22, 2025, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Alabama held that the State of Alabama drew a state senate map in violation of the Section 2 of Voting Rights Act of 1965. The judge ordered the State of Alabama redraw an additional black-majority senate district. In a similar ruling, the Court ordered Alabama to use its remedial congressional map until 2030.^[7]