Alabama will split U.S. House primaries, after the Supreme Court's voting ruling

A demonstrator holds up a sign outside the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery on Thursday. Kim Chandler/AP hide caption toggle caption Kim Chandler/AP Alabama's elections just got more complicated. The state is moving ahead with a special primary election for four of its seven congressional districts, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Alabama to use a map that had been blocked by the courts. The move increases the chances of Republicans picking up an extra U.S. House seat. The Supreme Court's conservative majority vacated a lower court decision that had blocked a 2023 congressional map proposal and required the state to include a second largely Black district. The Supreme Court's order, which was opposed by the court's three liberal-leaning justices, came after its recent ruling in a Louisiana redistricting case that weakened the Voting Rights Act . Following that Louisiana decision, Alabama's Republican leaders sought to revert to the 2023 map proposal that would leave one largely Black, Democratic-held congressional district. "I will continue to say: Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best," Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, said in a statement Tuesday announcing the special election . …