Current:Home > ContactThousands of voters in Alabama district drawn to boost Black political power got wrong information -Secure Horizon Growth
Thousands of voters in Alabama district drawn to boost Black political power got wrong information
View
Date:2025-04-13 03:02:52
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — More than 6,000 voters in a newly formed congressional district drawn to boost Black voting power in Alabama received postcards with incorrect voting information ahead of Tuesday’s primary, alarming advocates concerned about the potential impact on a race seen as crucial to boosting Black representation and Democrats’ hopes to flip the U.S. House in November.
James Snipes, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars, said 6,593 county voters received postcards listing the incorrect congressional district after the county’s election software misidentified some people living in the 2nd Congressional District as living in the 7th.
Snipes said voters arriving at the polls were still able to vote for the correct candidates. The county had sent about 2,000 notices to affected voters as of Tuesday evening and will send out an additional 4,000 on Wednesday, he said.
“Everyone who came to their precinct was able to vote for the correct candidates,” Snipes said, attributing the incorrect information to a “software glitch” made when adjusting to the recent shift in state congressional districts. “This was a good-faith effort.”
Montgomery County, home to about 159,000 registered voters, now falls 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 power of Black residents, violating the Voting Rights Act.
The three-judge panel decided that Alabama, which is 27% Black, should have a second district where Black voters comprise a large share of the population. The move has sparked a congested and competitive primary contest 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 were redrawn, Black residents will comprise nearly 49% of the 2nd district’s voting-age population, up from less than one-third.
“For many Black voters in that district, this is the first election where they 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 just 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 that voters in Montgomery County are facing classic disenfranchisement.” He noted it came days after the state marked an anniversary of key events that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
Election officials caught an error in the cards sent to voters in January and attempted 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 fixed,” he said, adding that officials didn’t realize that more voters had been affected. “We can’t figure out how the software did that to us.”
Laney Rawls, executive assistant for Alabama’s secretary of state, said the office 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 primary calendar. Only sporadic voting problems surfaced, most of which were resolved quickly. In Texas’ Travis County, which includes Austin, some voters had problems 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 issue” but did not offer more details. Affected voters were asked to either wait while 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 pushed out a solution,” the clerk’s office said in an email.
___
Associated Press writer Juan A. Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.
veryGood! (277)
Related
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- Week 3 college football winners and losers: Georgia shows grit, Alabama is listless
- Rapper Flo Rida uses fortune, fame to boost Miami Gardens residents, area where he was raised
- 'Wait Wait' for September 16, 2023: With Not My Job guest Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- Bill Gate and Ex Melinda Gates Reunite to Celebrate Daughter Phoebe's 21st Birthday
- Misery Index Week 3: Michigan State finds out it's facing difficult rebuild
- Zimbabwe’s reelected president says there’s democracy. But beating and torture allegations emerge
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- ‘Nun 2' narrowly edges ‘A Haunting in Venice’ over quiet weekend in movie theaters
Ranking
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Coach for Tom Brady, Drew Brees has radical advice for parents of young athletes
- Relative of slain Black teen calls for white Kansas teen to face federal hate crime charges
- Atlantic storm Lee delivers high winds and rain before forecasters call off warnings in some areas
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- Dominican Republic closes all borders with Haiti as tensions rise in a dispute over a canal
- 'Endless calls for help': Critics say Baltimore police mishandled mass shooting response
- Incarcerated students win award for mental health solution
Recommendation
Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
'Wait Wait' for September 16, 2023: With Not My Job guest Hillary Rodham Clinton
Untangling Elon Musk's Fiery Dating History—and the 11 Kids it Produced
Search on for a missing Marine Corps fighter jet in South Carolina after pilot safely ejects
Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli is going on leave to be with his wife for the birth of twins
Forecasters cancel warnings as Lee begins to dissipate over Maritime Canada
Oregon launches legal psilocybin, known as magic mushrooms access to the public