A federal court is ruling that the State of Alabama cannot restrict assistance for disabled, blind and low-literacy voters in 2024 election when it comes to the absentee application process.
U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor on Tuesday blocked a portion of Alabama’s new law criminalizing some forms of ballot assistance, saying it violated the Voting Rights Act.
SB1, new legislation to combat so-called "ballot harvesting," passed by the state legislature back in March and has been signed by Gov. Kay Ivey.
The law makes it a felony for absentee ballot applications or ballots to be distributed, ordered, requested, collected, completed, obtained or delivered by a person other than the absentee voter.
The Alabama NAACP (AL NAACP), Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM), the League of Women Voters of Alabama (LWVAL) and the Alabama Disability Advocates Program (ADAP) filed a lawsuit in federal court back in April against Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama's 42 District Attorneys and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen.
U.S. District Judge Proctor ruled SB 1’s key restrictions on absentee application assistance likely violate Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 208 of the act was added to the 1965 law in 1982 and allows blind, illiterate or disabled people to accept assistance “by a person of the voter’s choice.”
Tuesday's preliminary injunction means that while the lawsuit continues, SB 1’s key criminal sanctions cannot be enforced against disabled, blind, or low literacy voters or against their chosen assistors.
In response, Marshall filed motions on Tuesday, appealing the ruling and requesting a stay of the preliminary injunction while the order is on appeal.
Election Day is November 5.
