Alabama and Tennessee join rush of southern states moving to redraw maps after Supreme Court ruling

Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee announced special legislative sessions next week to draw new congressional maps – becoming the latest states to act following the Supreme Court’s further weakening of the Voting Rights Act. “We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters,” Tennesee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement on Friday, just hours after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called upon her state legislature to reconvene to discuss establishing a special primary election for both US House and state Senate districts “whose boundary lines are altered by court action.” The announcements illustrate the extraordinary speed with which some Republican states in the South are moving to seize on the high court’s decision and do away with previously mandated maps designed to give voters of color the opportunity to select candidates of their choosing. Republicans currently hold a paper-thin majority in the House, and both parties have waged a coast-to-coast mid-decade redistricting war for months, seeking to eke out a partisan advantage. But the latest limiting of the Voting Rights Act has set off a scramble to make more changes before November’s midterm elections, particularly in the South, where the legislation