Ahead of Public Hearing, NRF Reiterates Call For Alabama Legislature to Adopt Fair, Compliant Map
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Jena Doyle
doyle@redistrictingfoundation.org
Ahead of Public Hearing, NRF Reiterates Call For Alabama Legislature to Adopt Fair, Compliant Map
Washington, D.C. – Today, prior to the first public hearing in the Alabama redraw process, as ordered by the Supreme Court of the United States, Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF), released the following statement:
“It is the responsibility of the Alabama Legislature to pass a fair and compliant congressional map that includes two districts that effectively provide Black voters the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice – in Alabama, that means two majority-Black districts. Any map that does not achieve that is a map that doesn’t pass muster and will be challenged in court. The VRA Plaintiffs’ Remedial Plan is a map that appropriately represents Black Alabamians and complies with the law. The legislature can and should adopt this map.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
Yesterday, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) plaintiffs in Allen v. Milligan, sent a letter to the Alabama Legislative Committee on Reapportionment calling on the Alabama legislature to adopt their proposed map. As first reported on AL.com, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) supported the VRA plaintiffs in submitting their map to the legislature.
The VRA plaintiffs’ map achieves three main characteristics that make it fair and legally compliant:
1) There are two majority-Black congressional districts: The map includes two majority-Black congressional districts, congressional districts 2 and 7. Both districts have a Black Voting Age Population (BVAP) of above 50 percent, which is necessary for these districts to effectively provide an equal opportunity for Black voters in Alabama as required by the VRA. Specifically, the 2nd Congressional District has a 50.08 percent BVAP and the 7th Congressional District has a 54.43 percent BVAP.
2) All of Alabama’s Black Belt counties are protected: All of Alabama’s 18 Black Belt counties are kept within the two majority-Black districts and none of those counties are split apart among multiple districts.
3) Most of Alabama’s original congressional map is kept intact: Congressional districts 1 and 2 were the only districts to see significant change in order to create a second Black opportunity district. Congressional districts 3, 6, and 7, maintain almost 90 percent of their current constituents. Congressional districts 4 and 5 do not experience any change.
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