Awaiting SCOTUS redistricting decision, Gudger files special primary election bill

A bill pre-filed this week in the Alabama Legislature would allow for special primary elections should the U.S. Supreme Court change how race is applied to drawing congressional maps.

Senate Bill 23 by Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, allows for primary elections outside the normal May contests if “the boundaries of one or more legislative or congressional districts to be used in the next general election are changed or altered by either an act of the Legislature or by order, judgment, or mandate from a state or federal court which permits or requires the use of legislative or congressional district boundaries…”

The bill says a special primary would be required if the boundary change is made too late to be accommodated in the normal primary election schedule. It would have to be held before the last day of August.

The bill comes as Alabama and other states await a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a Louisiana case that could place further limits on using race when drawing congressional maps.

If the Supreme Court finds Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional, it could jeopardize Alabama’s two Black-majority districts and reshape the makeup of Congress.

“If the Supreme Court overturns Callais, holding an election with districts that were unnecessarily redrawn by judges is unfair and punitive to both voters and candidates,” Gudger told Alabama Daily News on Thursday. “It’s like football referees overturning a penalty upon review but still making your team give up yardage and a down. We’re simply trying to place the ball on the original line of scrimmage, which is fair to everyone.”

Plaintiffs in Louisiana brought the case to the high court after the state was ordered by a federal judge to redraw its congressional map to include a second majority-Black district, one that was won by a Democrat last year. If the plaintiffs win their case, it could turn that district back into one likely to be represented by a Republican and possibly even eliminate the state’s other Democratic seat, which also was mandated under the Voting Rights Act.

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Last year, Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, was elected to the U.S. House after another redistricting fight in the courts led to the creation of Alabama’s newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District.

Gudger’s bill would only impact districts affected by redistricting.

A Supreme Court ruling in the Louisiana case is expected by the end of June.

Last week, the GOP-led Louisiana Legislature moved back its 2026 primary elections in hopes of an earlier court decision and being able to redraw its districts, two of which are currently majority minority, in the spring, according to media reports.

Alabama’s legislative session starts Jan. 13.

This story is from aldailynews.com.