Alabama’s New Maps Could Violate a Covid-Era Clause in the State Constitution

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, states across the South have rushed to redraw their congressional maps just months ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. For advocates looking to challenge Alabama’s new maps, a recent state constitutional amendment that forbids changes in election rules so close to the election could provide an avenue to do so.

The amendment has Covid-19-related roots. As in many other states, the Alabama secretary of state in 2020 temporarily loosened its absentee voting requirements to allow any registered voter to use the pandemic as an excuse to vote via absentee ballot under the physical incapacitation category. This, at least in part, led to record voter turnout for the 2020 general election, in which more people in Alabama cast a ballot than in any previous election. 

This expansion of voter access, as well as other reforms passed across the country, prompted the Alabama legislature in 2021 to consider a host of bills aimed at constricting the state government’s ability to expand services, change laws, or issue emergency declarations in a health emergency. One of these bills, known colloquially as Amendment 4, may now create new hurdles for that same legislature’s ability to redraw its own 2026 maps. 

Amendment 4 (HB388 prior to passage) created a ballot initiative to be placed on the 2022 general election ballot stating, in part: “The implementation date for any bill enacted by the Legislature in a calendar year in which a general election is to be held and relating to the conduct of the general election shall be at least six months before the general election.”

In other words, the amendment prohibited any election-related legislation in the six months before a general election. It was introduced and sponsored by Republicans and passed both Republican-dominated chambers along party lines. The resulting ballot initiative passed in November 2022 with 80 percent of the vote.

This means that, this year, the amendment prohibits any election-related changes after May 3, six months before the November 3 general election.

On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Callais blessing racial discrimination and encouraging partisan gerrymandering. Just two days later, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) called a special session to allow the legislature to revert to a congressional map that eliminated a second opportunity district for Black voters and a state Senate map that packed Black voters into a single district — both of which had previously been struck down as racially discriminatory. The special session started on May 4 — one day later than the date marking six months until the general election. That same day, over the protestations of advocates, voters, and Black lawmakers, the legislature approved a plan to reinstate those maps. 

Ivey and the legislature faced a roadblock: An existing pre-Callais injunction prohibited Alabama from redrawing maps before 2030. Following the completion of the special session, the state attorney general promptly filed suit to vacate the injunction. The U.S. Supreme Court obliged, sending the case back to the original three-judge panel to consider the injunction “in light of” Callais.

On May 26, that federal panel blocked Alabama’s desired congressional map from being used, stating that it was intentionally racially discriminatory, as its purpose “was to distribute Black voters across districts to dilute their votes, at least in part because they are Black.” But — in a ruling that racial justice advocates said stripped Black voters of political power “at a speed that would put Jim Crow jurists to shame” — the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision just one week later, stating that the district court’s analysis “departed from” Callais and that the legislature was entitled to a presumption of good faith in its redistricting decisions. Regarding the state Senate map, a similar series of events occurred, culminating in a stay in support of the state’s position on May 29. 

By this time, the May 19 primary had taken place, using the maps in place before the special session. The legislature’s preferred maps redraw four of seven congressional districts and two senate districts. If they stand — as it appears they will — the primary results in those districts will be thrown out and Alabamians living there will be required to vote in their primaries a second time on August 11.

Though avenues for redress based on racial discrimination in Alabama seem all but closed, there remains one unanswered question: In light of the 2022 amendment, can the state redraw its congressional and state Senate maps less than six months before the general election?

During the special session, Republican lawmakers insisted that Amendment 4 was irrelevant; the session focused on replacing maps for the primaries, they said, not the general election. Opposing lawmakers, in return, pointed out that the new maps were not limited to the primary, as they also determined which individuals would be running in each district during the general election. The change in maps thus related to the conduct of the general election and occurred less than six months before that election, they said, in clear violation of both the text and intent of the amendment. 

So far, no court challenge has been filed making this claim. If it were, its eventual path to the Alabama Supreme Court, which consists of nine Republican justices who are consistent conservative votes, would likely lead to similar results as those seen at the U.S. Supreme Court thus far. Still, Alabama provides a curious political and legal question: Could a law passed by a reactionary supermajority during a time of national crisis — Covid-19 — upend that same supermajority’s attempts to disenfranchise Black Alabamians in today’s democratic crisis? Time will tell. 

Katie Glenn is the senior state legislative advocacy policy strategist and Bernard and Anne Spitzer Fellow at the Brennan Center.