Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has objected to all three congressional district map proposals released by special master Richard Allen this week.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a filing in federal court on Thursday, "Secretary Allen contends that the Special Master's "Remedial Plan 1" is most objectionable because of its unnecessary split of Houston County."
"The three maps proposed by the Special Master share the same general structure with each other, with the Plaintiffs' 'VRA Plan,' and with every demonstrative plan submitted by the Milligan and Caster Plaintiffs. They divide up Mobile City, Mobile County, and the Gulf Coast counties so that black voters in Mobile County can be linked to black voters in Montgomery and eastern Alabama for a new District 2," Marshall said in a filing about Allen's objection to three map proposals on Thursday. "Secretary Allen preserves his objection to these plans and maintains his argument that the districts based on this structure are unconstitutional racial gerrymanders that harm Alabama voters by subjecting them to racial classifications. In carrying out the Court's orders, the Special Master's proposed plans carry forward what Secretary Allen maintains are errors the Court has made in its preliminary findings. Even if any alterations made to a plan by the Special Master's demographer were performed 'race blind,' the starting point was a plan where race predominates over traditional criteria, and the changes made were too modest to undo the race-based decisions. Secretary Allen preserves his argument that this Court's preliminary injunction order was in error where it found that race did not predominate over traditional districting criteria in plans based on this structure or any other approach that sacrifices traditional criteria for racial goals."
Each map would place Coffee County, which is currently represented by second congressional district U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), into the first congressional district, potentially pitting Moore against incumbent U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile).
View all three maps here.
Under all three proposals, Democrat candidates would likely be favorites in both congressional districts 2 and 7. The second congressional district features a black voting-age population of 48.5% to 50.1% in all three plans. The seventh congressional district features a black voting-age population of 51.9% to 52.8% in all three plans.
A hearing on objections to the three proposals is scheduled for Tuesday.
Sos Wes Allen Filing by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
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