Alabama Governor Kay Ivey called a special legislative session Friday, urging lawmakers to postpone the state's midterm primary elections. Her goal: to buy time for a congressional redistricting overhaul that a landmark Supreme Court ruling this week has suddenly made possible.
The timing is tight. Alabama's primary is scheduled for May 19, using maps that a federal court had required to include two districts where Black voters could effectively choose their representative. But a Supreme Court decision Wednesday fundamentally shifted the legal terrain around race and redistricting, potentially allowing Alabama to revert to an earlier map with only one Black-majority district.
"By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama's previously drawn congressional and state Senate maps to be used during this election cycle," Ivey said in a statement.
The Supreme Court's decision struck down Louisiana's congressional map and effectively gutted key protections in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Legal experts predict the ruling will trigger a wave of map redrawals across the South in the coming year as Republican-led states test the boundaries of what's now permissible.
Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court on Friday seeking a swift decision on whether the state can use its older congressional maps this election cycle.
The domino effect is already visible. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, ordered his state's ongoing primary halted for a map revision. Civil rights groups promptly sued to block that delay. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster suggested Friday that his state is considering similar action, though the legislature is currently in session and the primary is set for June 9.
Georgia, however, is taking a different path. Governor Brian Kemp said he will not delay Georgia's May 19 primary to redraw maps for this election. "Voting is already underway for the 2026 elections," Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Kemp did acknowledge that the Supreme Court decision "requires Georgia to adopt new electoral maps before the 2028 election cycle." He praised the ruling as a win, saying it "restores fairness to our redistricting process and allows states to pass electoral maps that reflect the will of the voters, not the will of federal judges."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The real test isn't whether Alabama can move its primary, but whether courts will actually let these rushed map changes stick before voters head to the polls."
Comments