On January 20, a 3-judge U.S. District Court invalidated twelve Alabama legislative districts. The court found that the legislature, when drawing the boundaries, had packed so many black voters into some districts that black influence as a whole was diminished. The boundaries of three State Senate districts and nine State House districts were struck down. The legislature, which convenes February 7, will now draw new boundaries. Of course, the boundaries of many, and possibly all, districts will be changed. When one changes the boundaries of a particular district obviously that changes the boundaries of neighbor districts.

Alabama does not elect legislators in presidential years. They are all elected to four-year terms in midterm years. There is no court order for a special election in 2017. The case is Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v State of Alabama, 2:12cv-691. Here is the decision. The case is quite old. The same 3-judge panel had upheld the districts several years ago, but in 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the lower court did not use the proper methodology and sent the case back. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

Florida representative Joe Geller (D-Broward County) has introduced HB 311, which would provide that Florida join the National Popular Vote Plan pact. See this story.

As noted earlier, in December 2015 the Michigan legislature repealed the straight-ticket device, but in 2016 a U.S. District Court granted an injunction forcing the state to keep the device in place for the November 2016 election. The issue of whether the U.S. Constitution requires Michigan to have a straight-ticket device is not settled yet.

On January 19, the U.S. District Court granted permission for the supporters of the straight-ticket device to amend their complaint so as to allege that when the legislature repealed the straight-ticket device, that action was motivated with the intent to harm black voters. It appears that the supporters of the straight-ticket device feel their case, as outlined in their earlier complaint, needs to be strengthened, and the way to strengthen the case is to show that the legislature acted with discriminatory intent. The state government defendants had argued against permitting the complaint to be amended, but Judge Gershwin Drain is permitting the amended complaint. However, he denied permission for the opponents to also amend their complaint to include a charge that the repeal of the device violates the First Amendment.