The APR News team spoke with the people at the heart of the first election for Alabama’s newly redrawn Congressional District 2. The U.S. Supreme Court ordered deep red Alabama to redraw its voting map to better represent African American voters, who make up roughly a third of the state’s population. APR's investigation focused on the legal challenges being mounted by GOP lawmakers to overturn the new minority majority district map, as well as rural healthcare, and the future of black owned businesses. Along with these issues, in the background, was the concern over what critics say is Alabama’s long history of voter suppression.
“If we have early voting for about ten plus days, then the chances of our voter turnout being increased is highly improved,” said Shalela Dowdy, one of the plaintiffs in the legal case Allen versus Milligan that created the new Black majority District 2. She’s referring to Alabama’s policy against early voting. “So those voters, and I consider those to be voter suppression tactics, being that we have a state to the east of us, Georgia that has early voting, and I spend time in Louisiana, and they have early voting, so I know it can be done, so that will definitely play a role in turnout.”
APR spent several days in Washington, D.C. covering how if African American voters need help, and they live in an Alabama U.S. House District with a white Republican, they’re likely to call the office of Democratic U.S. Representative Terri Sewell. APR coverage began the today Republican lawmakers worked to include amendments to the 2025 Defense Department budget that critics say would impede diversity, equity, and inclusion. Sewell, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, says she voted against the bill for the first time as a member of Congress. She voiced concerns over voters showing up on Election Day.
“I think that voter apathy is obviously a big concern, and I think that that it is truly an existential threat to this particular coming election because of voter fatigue, because, you know, people don't seem to be excited about either candidate, but you know, at the end of the day, there's no better system than the system of democratic representation. And, you know, you have to, I have every faith in the American people that they will, you know, use this as an opportunity to choose a president, to choose members of Congress,” said Sewell.
The growing influence of younger voters was also noted during interviews for APR’s series “…a U.S. House seat, if you keep it.” Alabama Forward’s get out the vote rally was spotlighted during APR’s investigation. How younger voters view the world of politics and they conduct political activism was a challenge facing Deanna Fowler, Executive Director of the group Alabama Forward. She said the issue of voter suppression was difficult among younger voters who haven’t experienced this issue, compared to older volunteers who have.
“I will say that one thing that we're trying to find a creative way to address is that it seems like the approach of using that historical context and like those stories to really motivate younger folks to vote doesn't really resonate like I think our elders think it should, and expect it to,” said Fowler. “And so, you know, I think young folks really still respect the history of the movement and the work and are very aware of historically, what communities went through, you know, related to voting rights and civil rights, but it's not as motivating.”
Go to apr.org to listen again to our documentary “…a U.S. House seat, if you can keep it,” and all the parts of our investigative series surrounding Alabama’s new Congressional voting map designed to better represent African American voters.
