Supreme Court allows new elections, voting districts in Alabama: What happens next?
What you need to know ahead of the May 19 primaries.
Mason Reed 
The Supreme Court has handed Alabama a victory in its effort to change voting district maps, part of the broader national arms race to change voting and control of Congress ahead of the 2026 midterms.
On Monday, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling and cleared the way for Alabama to make changes to its voting maps. A lower court, the Northern District of Alabama, still has to consider the case.
If judges continue to favor Alabama’s argument, this likely opens up special elections and new ballots for voters in about half the state -- though many questions remain about if and how the state will make changes before the 2026 elections.
Updated congressional maps would make changes to Districts 1, 2, 6 and 7. They likely would be more favorable to Republican voters, and would concentrate Black voters into one district, instead of two.
While the Supreme Court ruling is a dramatic victory for Republican leaders in the state, some ballots already have been cast in primary elections and changes still may be subject to court challenges.
Here’s what we know now:
Alabama has seven congressional districts, and for the past six years, has fought the courts for the right to use maps that draw those lines in a particular way.
Courts blocked Republican leaders from using their preferred congressional district and state legislative maps, saying leaders had concentrated Black voters in districts in ways that were “intentionally discriminatory” and lessened their chance of electing a candidate of their choice.
But the state decided to take a stab again after the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision in April weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican candidate for governor, said that “Alabama must take action to make sure our maps accurately reflect the politics and values of Alabamians and not the DNC.”
On May 8, the legislature passed bills that let the state hold special elections for some congressional districts. Then, on May 11, the U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled the state might be able to do just that.
The state currently has two Democratic Representatives, Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell, who are both Black.
Both warned that the Callais decision could make it harder for Black voters across the South to elect representatives of their choice.
As of today, they will happen as scheduled on May 19.
Every eligible voter will get a chance to vote in Democratic or Republican primaries. The party nominees will be chosen ahead of the November General Election.
But voters in certain districts -- U.S. Congress Districts 1, 2, 6 and 7 -- will likely have special elections later this summer for new candidates in the redrawn districts.
They have not been scheduled yet.
Voters in these counties can look up information on the Secretary of State’s website to see if they live in affected districts and are eligible to vote in special elections.
