Tuscaloosa County Approves New Voting District Lines, Despite Racial Packing Concerns

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa County Commission approved new voting district lines Wednesday morning by a 3-1 vote, which comes following policymakers giving consideration to numerous proposals and holding public hearings ahead of the vote.

It also follows sharply-expressed public concerns over gerrymandering and racial "packing" during the reapportionment process.

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Debate was contentious in the minutes leading up to the vote and tempers flared at points as detractors — namely representatives from the Tuscaloosa branch of the NAACP and the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference — expressed their displeasure with the proposal settled on by the County Commission.

District 4 Commissioner Reginald Murray, who is the only African-American on the Commission, was the lone nay vote on the measure.

Here's a look at the redistricting plan that was approved on Wednesday ...

Here's a look at the previous layout for county voting districts that were set out after the 2010 Census ...

Speaking on behalf of the NAACP, Sue Thompson argued that the preferred redistricting model appears to dilute the voting strength of Black voters. She went on to point out that 2020 Census data shows roughly 40% of Tuscaloosa County residents are minorities, before stressing that the Black community has only 25% representation on the County Commission. That percentage is even less, she said, when including the elected Probate Judge, who chairs the Commission and is elected at large.

"The result is in a county made up of 40% minorities," Thompson said. "Minority representation on the Commission is only 20% and that's about half of what it should be if the county reflected the racial makeup."

As debate moved forward, County Attorney Robert Spence mentioned to the Commission that there was no timetable for them to vote on the proposal, as the next election cycle will not impact the current Commission. With that in mind, Spence then suggested the Commission take some time and let the public have the opportunity to digest the changes before they are voted on.

Murray then made a motion to table the vote on the redistricting proposal, which failed to garner a second from his three colleagues.

Lisa Young, the current president of the Tuscaloosa Branch of the NAACP, then took to the podium and also requested the matter be given more consideration. Thompson and other Tuscaloosa-area civil rights activists submitted their own proposal, which was one of three considered during the Commission's previous redistricting work session.

"I think the proposed map keeps your districts the way they are and would eliminate public concerns that the commission is practicing gerrymandering," Young said of the alternate redistricting plan. "I just think it's the right thing to do."

Following the meeting, Probate Judge Rob Robertson said in an interview with Patch that the entire process was above-board and, above all else, was geared toward staying in compliance with the standards set out by the U.S. Justice Department. He then said the Commission was one of several to contract with the West Alabama Regional Commission to aid in the process.

"There's not a lot of change, " Robertson said. "It keeps things very similar to what we have. Because of growth north of the county and growth south of the county, there has to be some movement. It doesn't effect a lot of voters."

Distilling down the data, the probate judge said voters were moved primarily from Districts 1 and 3, to then be moved into District 4 — the only Commission district that saw its population decline in the decade since the last Census.

Considering District 4 is also the only predominantly Black voting district in Tuscaloosa County, the new changes prompted calls of "packing" Black voters into one district, thus decreasing minority representation in others.

Here's a breakdown of each voting district under the proposal adopted Wednesday ...

Perhaps the most compelling example of this, which was argued by Thompson, focused on a section of Northport that will now move from District 1 to District 4. This area east of Flatwoods Road and north of McFarland Boulevard includes the Deerfield subdivision — a neighborhood with a mostly Black population.

What's more, the proposal adopted Wednesday morning would see a stretch of District 3 reapportioned to District 4 in a move that will bring even more Black voters into the district. This area runs from east of McFarland Boulevard and west of Hargrove Road. It also includes properties in the vicinity of Bowers Park.

District 1 covers a little more than the entire northwest corner of the county, including the rapidly growing area north of the Black Warrior River. This is even more apparent when seeing the growth reported by the City of Northport during the 2020 Census that saw the city become the 17th largest in Alabama by population.

District 3 covers the bustling south end of the county along the Highway 69 corridor running through Taylorville and Duncanville.

"The voters had to come from District 1 and District 3 to go to District 4 because of a decline in population for District 4," Robertson said. "This is making sure voting and minority percentages stay consistent."

He went on to explain that every governmental body in Alabama will be tasked with drawing their own district lines for elected offices and will no doubt be faced with the same set of challenges.

"To keep your districts at a certain number of voters and within that district, you have to look at majority/minority voter populations," Robertson said. "It's very minor changes to just make sure and rebalance when new Census numbers come out. There are places around the state that had tremendous changes. To keep balance in the number of voters, they have to pull from other districts and, obviously, lay lines have to change to do that."

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