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By PAUL DEMARCO | Guest Columnist

Alabama lawmakers handling of redistricting of both Legislative and Congressional districts was one of the more disgraceful acts for this group of legislators in the past four years.

State senators and representatives drew the maps behind closed doors with lobbyists and hid them from the public until the last minute.

When citizens had a chance to look at the new lines for the maps, their concerns were ignored by legislators, and the maps were approved anyway. Citizens wanted fair representation, but the Alabama Legislative Reapportionment Committee was only concerned with protecting incumbents.

Now to add insult to injury, a mistake by local election officials in Etowah County appears to have resulted in voters possibly having been put in the wrong county commission and legislative seats. To make matters worse, it appears that the officials were on notice before the primary election and failed to correct the district lines.

Now the Alabama Republican Party has to resolve the ensuing challenges to the election results.

Alabama legislators and election officials have hurt the credibility with voters in our state based on their actions.

Hopefully, new state officials next year can earn the trust of Alabama citizens in the future.

Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be followed on Twitter at @Paul_DeMarco.