It’s Past Time for Fair Maps in Jefferson County

Apr 23, 2026 | Blog

This op ed was written by Scott Douglas | Executive Director of Greater Birmingham Ministries in al.com

Voting is a foundational right of our community, but for too many Black voters it also entails the additional insult of voting under voting districts drawn specifically to dilute Black political power. And on May 19, Jefferson County’s voters face the unenviable task of casting ballots in unconstitutional districts.

Last September, after an extensive trial, a federal court struck down the county’s voting districts because they were drawn to separate residents based on the color of their skin, also known as racial gerrymandering. Instead of taking the court’s decision seriously and drawing a fair map that would actually represent the realities of the county, the County Commissioners doubled down, pouring time and taxpayer money into defending voting districts that segregate voters. Jefferson County deserves better.

How did we get here? In the 1980s, after Voting Rights Act litigation prompted the creation of the voting districts, two of the five voting districts were drawn with majority-Black populations. But ever since then, without considering the growth of the Black population in the county, the Commission has continued to pack Black voters into those two districts and siphon them out of the other three — creating a system where Black political power has been severely diluted.

To be clear, there’s no reason for the Commission to draw districts with such a high concentration of Black voters. So, a coalition of organizations and individuals, including Greater Birmingham Ministries, sued the County seeking fair and legal districts. At trial, we argued that the 2021 redistricting plan and current map was a racial gerrymander that had no consideration of what the Voting Rights Act actually required. We showed that Black voters in Jefferson County can elect our preferred candidates to the Commission in districts with a far lower Black percentage, so there was no reason for the Commission to move Black voters into Districts 1 and 2 over the course of the last few decades.

The Court agreed.

Yet the Commission still seeks to evade and delay justice. Despite ample time and opportunity to comply with the court’s ruling, the Commission refused to propose or enact a constitutional map. Instead of rectifying their illegal racial gerrymander, the Commission began a lengthy and expensive appeals process, asking an appeals court to put the lower court’s decision on hold.

Unfortunately, a panel of that appellate court agreed, leaving the illegal map in place, even though the Commission had over a year to draw a new map before the 2026 midterm elections — far more time than many of the states that are redrawing their congressional maps for partisan purposes right now. As long as the lower court’s decision is on hold, the harm to our community continues. The U.S. Constitution and federal law promise us equal representation — but that promise is left unrealized when voters are packed into districts because of their race.

The cost to our county goes beyond the harm of forcing voters to cast ballots within illegal districts. More than three years into this case, Jefferson County continues to pour time, energy, and resources into defending this illegal map. Our tax dollars should be spent improving infrastructure, housing, and health care for every county resident. Instead, our County Commissioners spent three years paying a large, out-of-state law firm to defend illegal voting lines.