1983 Alabama Senate special election

A special election in the U.S. State of Alabama took place on Tuesday, November 8, 1983, to elect 35 representatives to serve 3-year terms in the Alabama Senate. Special elections for every seat in the Alabama Legislature were mandated by federal courts after the reapportionment plans passed by the state legislature were found to have stifled Black American representation, violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A court-modified interim map was used for the 1982 general election, after which legislators were ordered to come up with a new map that would comply with the VRA.

The Republican primary election was held on September 6, with runoff elections on September 27. The State Democratic Executive Committee decided against holding a primary, instead choosing to hand-pick Democratic legislative nominees at a committee meeting on October 1. The decision of the SDEC was highly controversial, and it turned down the renomination of several incumbent state legislators. Several ousted state legislators sought and won re-election as independent candidates, and some political analysts attributed the Democratic backlash and the success of conservative independents and Republicans in both houses of the legislature to the SDEC's decision. Marty Connors, the executive director of the Alabama Republican Party, called the 1983 election "the birth of the two-party system in Alabama." The Mobile Register's opinion page called the Democratic decision "unwise."

Twenty-eight Democrats and four Republicans were elected. Three independent candidates, former Rep. Gerald Dial, Sen. Foy Covington, and Sen. Lowell Barron won election to the state senate. Covington and Barron were Democratic incumbents previously ousted at the SDEC meeting, with Barron winning as a write-in candidate. Barron's victory was historic, as it was the first time in living memory that a candidate won a state office by way of write-in votes. Five members elected were Black and two were women.

Special elections to the state house were held in parallel to state senate elections. Two statewide constitutional amendments were also set to be placed on the November ballot: a proposed rewrite of the state constitution, and a proposed transfer of three state-owned docks to local agencies. The former amendment was struck from the ballot by the Alabama Supreme Court, leaving only the latter to be decided. With no statewide race or major constitutional issue on the ballot, voter turnout was incredibly light, ranging from 25 percent to just 8 percent depending on the district. Incumbent Senate president pro tempore John Teague was re-elected to his position on November 16, 1983.