The Independent View: Alabama, the Courts, and Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Voting Rights Act that subjected Alabama and other jurisdictions with a history of racial bias to heightened scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice. No longer did Alabama have to get “pre-clearance” from federal lawyers before making changes to their election system.

Section 3 and Section 8 give the federal courts and the Attorney General, respectively, authority to certify counties for the assignment of federal observers. Federal observers are assigned to polling places so they can monitor election-day practices in response to concerns about discrimination in the voting process and to provide information about compliance with bilingual election procedures. Department staff may also be sent to monitor elections.

On January 13, 2014, U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade’s formally closed a voting rights case that resulted in a court-ordered redrawing of City Council districts last year. In December, the judge ordered the City of Evergreen to pay more than $138,000 in legal fees incurred by a group of minority plaintiffs.

Under her decision in Allen v City of Evergreen, Southern District, 13-0107, elections in the City of Evergreen will remain under federal supervision until 2020 and the attorney general will be allowed to assign federal observers to monitor future Evergreen elections.

The city will have to submit changes for review by the judge or the Department of Justice under the following two circumstances:

• Any change in the City Council districts that Granade drew in response to the lawsuit brought by a group of minority voters.

• Any change in the standards for determining which voters are eligible to vote in municipal elections.

The new map created a large black majority in three of the city’s five council districts. An election in June, which had been delayed from the originally scheduled August 2012 election by the suit, resulted in the same racial balance.

Councilman John Skinner, who is white, won re-election against three opponents in a district that had become majority black.

The judge allowed the city to annex new territory, which would necessitate a change in the council districts, without submitting to prior review as long as the city consults with a representative for the plaintiffs and the annexation does not reduce the percentage of black voters in District 1.