Thousands of voters in Alabama district drawn to boost Black political power got wrong information

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — More than 6,000 voters in a newly formed congressional district drawn to increase black voting power in Alabama received postcards with incorrect voting information ahead of Tuesday’s primary, alarming advocates over concerns about the potential impact on a race seen as crucial for boosting black representation and Democrats’ hopes. to flip the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

James Snipes, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars, said 6,593 voters in the county received postcards showing the incorrect congressional district after the county’s election software incorrectly identified some people living in the 2nd Congressional District as residents of the 7th.

Snipes said voters who showed up at the polls could still vote for the right candidates. The county sent about 2,000 notices to affected voters Tuesday evening and will send out another 4,000 on Wednesday, he said.

“Everyone who came to their district was able to vote for the right candidates,” Snipes said, attributing the incorrect information to a “software glitch” in adjusting for the recent shift in state congressional districts. “This was a good faith effort. .”

Montgomery County, home to about 159,000 registered voters, is now in the 2nd Congressional District after a federal court drew new congressional lines in November. That was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state had diluted the voting rights of black residents and thus violated the Voting Rights Act.

The three-judge panel decided that Alabama, which is 27% black, should get a second district where black voters make up a large share of the population. The move has led to a crowded and competitive primary as Democrats hope to flip the congressional seat in the fall.

The redrawn map could lead to the election of two black congressional representatives from the state for the first time. After the districts are redrawn, Black residents will make up nearly 49% of the 2nd District’s voting population, up from less than a third.

“For many Black voters in that district, this is the first election where they will have the opportunity to elect a representative who looks like them,” said Camille Wimbish, national director of campaigns and field programs for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law . . “This could have caused many black Alabamans to simply stay home and not vote at all.”

State Rep. Napoleon Bracy Jr., one of 11 Democratic candidates running in the 2nd District primary, said, “It is disappointing to see voters in Montgomery County face classic disenfranchisement.” He noted that it came days after the state marked an anniversary of key events leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Election officials discovered an error in the maps sent to voters in January and tried to update their systems so voters would be listed in the correct congressional district, said Snipes, of the county elections board.

“We thought we had it all figured out,” he said, adding that officials didn’t realize more voters were affected. “We can’t figure out how the software did that to us.”

Laney Rawls, executive assistant to the Alabama secretary of state, said the agency was not involved in sending the postcards to voters.

It was one of the few issues reported on Super Tuesday, the biggest day of the primaries. Vocal problems occurred only sporadically, most of which were resolved quickly. In Texas’ Travis County, which includes Austin, some voters had trouble checking in when they tried to cast their ballots.

The Travis County Clerk’s Office said about 1% of registered voters were affected. Officials blamed a “data problem” but did not provide more details. Affected voters were asked to wait until the problem was resolved, or were told they could cast a provisional ballot if they couldn’t wait.

“Our team quickly identified the issue and proposed a solution,” the clerk’s office said in an email.

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Associated Press writer Juan A. Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.