Voter turnout sagging in troubled voting rights hub of Selma

By JAY REEVES
Associated Press
SELMA, Ala. (AP) — The world knows the city of Selma, Alabama, as a historic beacon in the struggle for voting rights. But the act of voting is on the decline there almost 60 years after white police battered Black people marching for voting rights on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. The city and surrounding Dallas County both have substantial Black majorities. And they had one of the worst voter turnouts in Alabama for the 2020 presidential election at just under 57%. That was the low point in an electoral slide that began a decade ago. Residents blame factors including apathy and a declining population for the slide.