Former Alabama State Auditor and Public Service Commission candidate Jim Zeigler announced Monday that he will not attend a public forum for Public Service Commission candidates hosted by the League of Women Voters of Alabama in Montgomery on Tuesday, May 5. Zeigler said he withdrew from the debate because of the League’s public criticism of Governor Kay Ivey’s call for a special legislative session to redraw Alabama’s congressional maps just weeks before the state’s scheduled primary elections.
“I will not lend credibility to an organization that is fighting the proper districting of Alabama’s congressional districts,” Zeigler said Monday. “I support returning the districting power to the elected representatives of the people of Alabama and taking it away from the federal courts. I refuse to stand on the stage with the League of Women Voters while they fight against the correction of the wrongful gerrymandering of our congressional districts.”
Zeigler, who is running for Public Service Commission Place 2, called the League a “front for the Democrat Party” and said he would welcome any debate hosted by a “nonpartisan body.”
The League expressed its opposition to Ivey’s special legislative session in a public statement late last week, criticizing the move as an attempt to dilute Black representation in Alabama after the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.
“The League of Women Voters of Alabama strongly opposes Governor Ivey’s call for a special legislative session just 18 days before voters head to the polls,” the League said last Friday. “Our multiracial democracy depends on maps that do not dilute the political power of Black Alabamians.”
“Let’s be clear, the U.S. Supreme Court did not overrule our congressional map,” the organization continued. “Yet the legislature is now seeking to redraw it to eliminate Black representation in a state where Black residents make up more than a quarter of the population.”
The League called Ivey’s decision an “embarrassment” and demanded that state lawmakers “do better for Black residents.”
League of Women Voters of Alabama President Kim Bailey responded to Zeigler’s criticism in a written statement provided to APR.
“Voting and fair representation are not partisan issues—they are the bedrock of our democracy and have been core principles of the League of Women Voters for more than 100 years,” Bailey said. “It is deeply troubling that some attempt to label these fundamental rights as partisan.”
“Democracy works best when every eligible person can vote and trusts that their vote carries equal weight,” she continued. “Maps that effectively silence the voices of 25 percent of Alabamians undermine that promise and weaken our democratic system.”
Bailey said that despite the criticism, the League will continue “without apology, to defend every American’s right to vote.”
“We will stand against efforts to restrict the voices of Black, brown, female, disabled, and other historically marginalized communities, and we will work to ensure that every voice is heard in our democracy,” Bailey told APR.
While Zeigler will no longer be attendance, the other candidates running for Public Service Commission Place 1 and Place 2 are still expected to attend Tuesday’s public forum in Montgomery.
According to the LWVAL, the event is designed to provide voters with an opportunity “to hear directly from the candidates and learn more about their positions on issues that affect communities across Alabama.” The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and will also be livestreamed for those who register in advance online. Members of the public will be able to submit questions ahead of the event to guide discussion between the candidates.
