For second time in a year, Mobile City Council considers new district lines

For second time in a year, Mobile City Council considers new district lines

The Mobile City Council read an ordinance Tuesday that would reapportion the city’s seven council districts, more than two months since an annexation referendum added close to 20,000 new residents to the city.

The council could vote to adopt it as soon as next week, though city spokesperson Candace Cooksey says the timeline is up to the council.

“We took great care to preserve the important points that were achieved in the last redistricting effort,” Cooksey said Tuesday. “We’ve maintained four majority-Black districts…The council will now take that under consideration, and it is up to them how to proceed.”

On Friday, the city released a proposed new map for the seven council districts. Four of the seven districts are majority-Black. Council Districts 1,2,3 and 7 are all majority-Black, and District 7 has a Black voting age population of just over 53%.

In the last redistricting process, the council approved a map with four majority-Black council districts for the first time in the city’s history. Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson had promised that, even with annexation, the four-seat majority would remain intact.