A three-judge federal district court will rule soon on the congressional map Alabama will use in next year’s elections.

The court held a hearing Tuesday morning on three plans proposed by the special master appointed by the court.

The two groups of plaintiffs who have prevailed in their Voting Rights Act lawsuits against the state’s map told the judges their preferences of the three proposed maps.

“This court will rule shortly on this matter,” U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus said at the end of the 80-minute hearing at the Hugo Black U.S. Courthouse in Birmingham. The other judges are District Judge Anna Manasco and District Judge Terry Moorer.

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has told the court the state needs a map in place in early October to prepare for next year’s election.

Abha Kannah, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs group led by Marcus Caster of Washington County, said her clients supported Remedial Maps 1 and 3 proposed by Special Master Richard Allen, without a preference for either.

Deuel Ross, a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who represents the plaintiffs led by Evan Milligan of Montgomery, said his clients preferred Remedial Map 1 but supported Map 3 as an alternative.

This story will be updated.