Annexation proponents hailed yesterday’s unanimous vote from the Mobile City Council to allow a referendum on annexing territory west of the city as historic.

For opponents of annexation, though, it was viewed as a sellout: the city’s three Black councilmembers voted in favor of annexation, a reversal from 2019. Opponents of annexation remain concerned that the proposal will dilute Black political power in Mobile by increasing the white voting age proportion and decreasing the Black voting age proportion in the city.

Opponents remain unmoved by assurances from members of the city council and the city administration that the city’s four majority-Black city council districts will remain so, and that a plurality of voters in Mobile will remain Black.

“Throughout the years, there have been obstacles and voter suppression tactics put in our way to prevent us from voting,” said Shalela Dowdy, a law student and plaintiff in Milligan v. Merrill, the voting rights case currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. “Today, the voter suppression continues, but in disguise through the rose-colored glasses of annexation.”

An official date for the election has not been set, but city officials anticipate that it will be held sometime this summer. In the meantime, advocates for and against annexation will have time to campaign among the residents of west Mobile, who will be voting on whether to come into the city.