MONTGOMERY — Republican members of a Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday passed legislation to give Alabama the option to call a special election for two Montgomery-area State Senate districts later this year.
The bill by State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) would authorize a new special primary election to be held if a federal court issues an order or vacates an injunction thereby allowing the legislature to use a previously enacted legislative State Senate redistricting plan in the 2026 general election, and the court ruling is made at a time that is too late to be accommodated during the normal primary election schedule but would allow a new special primary election to be held in a manner that does not affect the 2026 General Election date set in November 2026.
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco issued an order in November concurring with left-wing plaintiffs suing the state, who claimed that State Senate Districts 25 and 26 held by State Sens. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) and Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery) violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Manasco ordered a special master to redraw Alabama's State Senate map for the 2026 election.
The bill by Elliott would require the governor to call a special primary election for the affected State Senate districts if the special primary election can be held within a specified time frame without violating certain laws, and would authorize the Governor to modify certain state law deadlines regarding elections.
According to a fiscal note, the bill would cost an estimated $600,000 over fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to reimburse affected counties for election expenses incurred in Senate Districts 25 and 26 if a special election is called pursuant to the provisions of this bill.
Elliott told reporters after the Tuesday meeting, "We'll have the bill on the floor for debate, conversation, and passage on Wednesday, and then it's off to the House for them to take it up."
"Things have changed in Alabama and across the country, and I'm glad they have changed," Elliott said. "They've needed to change, and they have changed. What the Supreme Court has said you can't do is base your district lines and how you draw the lines based on race. What we want to do is go back to the Senate districts that this elected body, this separate, co-equal branch of government drew and not one that was unilaterally drawn by the courts. We think that, should the federal courts issue a ruling that will allow us to proceed with this, then we're better off for the people of the state of Alabama."
The bill was opposed by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Black Lives Matter representatives during a public hearing on Tuesday.
Black Lives Matter Birmingham's Taft Harris, Jr. criticized Gov. Kay Ivey for calling a special session to pass the legislation.
"Let's talk about the governor who is apparently the love child of Jim Crow and the form of unrepentant George Wallace. She is wrong. You're wrong, and you know you're wrong. I pray you don't sleep. I pray the angel of the Lord wrestles with you all night long and shows you your whiteness, your fascism, your racism that has been systematic for so long," Harris told the committee. "I hope you don't sleep tonight. I hope the governor doesn't sleep tonight. I hope the President, well he may, he has no conscience. I hope, and I pray that you represent for your wrong and your acts of injustice against people who breastfed your mommy and daddy."
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