Alabama: Sixty years after the Voting Rights Act, marchers recall a hard-won struggle | Kim Chandler/Associated Press
Facing a sea of state troopers, Charles Mauldin was near the front line of voting rights marchers who strode across the now-infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. The violence that awaited them shocked the nation and galvanized support for the passage of the U.S. Voting Rights Act a few months later. Wednesday marked the 60th anniversary of the landmark legislation becoming law. Those at the epicenter of the fight for voting rights for Black Americans recalled their memories of the struggle, and expressed fear that those hard-won rights are being eroded. Read ArticleAlabama to add invisible security emblems to ballots | Colin Wood/StateScoop
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen on Tuesday announced his latest effort to improve the security of his state’s elections — new security emblems that will be attached to all ballots starting next year. In a press release, Allen said the emblems are invisible to the human eye and can only be detected by specialized equipment provided to election administrators in each of Alabama’s 67 counties. According to his office, it will be the first in the nation to use the technology. Read ArticleAlabama House narrowly passes election audit bill after pushback from both parties | Craig Monger/1819 News
The Alabama House of Representatives advanced legislation for the second year in a row to mandate post-election audits in statewide elections on Tuesday. Despite receiving broad support from lawmakers and the state Republican Party, the bill has failed to pass in the previous two legislative sessions. Last year, nearly identical legislation passed the House but could not get a hearing on the Senate floor. This year's version, House Bill 30 (HB30), requires the probate judge of each county to order a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election of all ballots in one precinct of a countywide or statewide race, selected by the canvassing board of each county, so long as that election is not subject to a recount. Read ArticleAlabama House committee advances post-election audit bill | Craig Monger/1819 News
For the third year in a row, the House Ways and Mean General Fund Committee voted to advance a bill by State Rep. Debbie Wood (R-Valley) requiring probate judges in each county to conduct a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election. Despite receiving broad support from lawmakers and the state Republican Party, the bill has failed to pass in the previous two legislative sessions. This year's version, House Bill 30 (HB30), requires the probate judge of each county to order a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election of all ballots in one precinct of a countywide or statewide race, selected by the canvassing board of each county, so long as that election is not subject to a recount. Read ArticleAlabama law makes offering, receiving compensation to gather mail ballots a felony | UPI
Voters in Alabama may face up to 20 years in prison for offering or receiving compensation for assistance turning in a mail-in ballot, according to a new state law. SB1 makes it a Class B felony to pay or give a gift to a third party to order or deliver an absentee ballot. A Class B felony is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. Likewise, it is a Class C felony for a third party -- with some exceptions -- to accept payment or gifts for these purposes. The maximum penalty for this is 10 years in prison. Read ArticleAlabama post-election audit bill moves forward | Samuel Stett heimer/Alabama Political Reporter
An Alabama House committee has unanimously approved House Bill 457, known as the Alabama Post-Election Audit Act, which aims to conduct audits of general elections in each county. The bill requires county canvassing boards to manually tabulate every ballot cast in one randomly selected race after general elections conclude. The bill sponsor, Rep. Debbie Wood, expressed concerns about election integrity, citing the age and unsecured transportation of voting machines. Alabama is one of only four states that do not regularly conduct post-election audits, and the proposed legislation seeks to address this gap by involving canvassing boards in each county to ensure accurate election results. Read ArticleAlabama Bill requiring mandatory ballot audits filed in House | Craig Monger/1819
Alabama State Representative Debbie Wood has sponsored House Bill 457, which requires a mandatory ballot audit after each county and statewide general election in Alabama. The bill mandates that each county’s canvassing board will conduct a post-election manual audit that includes a manual tally of all ballots in at least one randomly selected race. The selection of the race and polling location may be by drawing lots or computerized random selection to ensure that all voting locations and races are included in the selection method. According to the bill’s sponsor, the audit will ensure accountability to both candidates and voters, particularly as her race was decided by a margin of seven votes. The bill has been assigned to the House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee. Read ArticleAlabama House passes bill to criminalize help with absentee ballots | Mike Cason/AL.com
The Alabama House has passed a bill to make it a felony to assist another person with an absentee ballot or an absentee ballot application, with exceptions. HB209 calls for harsher penalties and no exceptions if the assistance involves a payment. The bill passed by a vote of 76-28, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The vote came after the Republican majority cut off the debate after an hour. The bill moves to the Senate. Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, said the bill would be a setback for efforts to assist people who need help voting. “There are so many instances now that people, good people, who want to vote, are going to be hampered,” Warren said. “And you’re going to really scare people. People are going to be scared now. Because they think that they can be charged a felony.” Full Article: Alabama House passes bill to criminalize help with absentee ballots - al.comAlabama Senate approves bills requiring paper ballots, banning internet-capable voting machines | Jemma Stephenson/Chattanooga Times Free Press
The Alabama Senate approved two bills that would codify current voting practices. Senate Bill 9 and Senate Bill 10, both sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, passed through the chamber. SB 9 requires the use of paper ballots in voting machines. SB 10 prevents the use of voting machines that connect to the internet. Each passed on 29-0 votes. Both measures passed Tuesday afternoon. Chambliss said after the Senate adjourned Tuesday that the bills would not affect polling places. The legislation, he said, aimed to prevent hacking and allow ballot counting when power outages take place. "What we're trying to do is be proactive with issues that we've seen happen in other places and just make sure that's not a problem here," Chambliss said. Full Article: Alabama Senate approves bills requiring paper ballots, banning internet-capable voting machines | Chattanooga Times Free PressAlabama legislation introduced in 2023 session creates new rules for absentee voting, voters with disabilities | Baillee Majors/Alabama Public Radio
At least two bills up for debate in the 2023 legislative session deal with voting in the state of Alabama. Specific House bills have gained support from the ACLU of Alabama. Here's a look at the legislation. This legislation seeks to authorize registered voters to apply for and vote using absentee ballots without an excuse. Under existing law, a registered voter in Alabama may only vote by absentee ballot if they meet one of the criteria prescribed by law for voting absentee. Currently under Alabama law, voters must declare that they will be out of town, incapacitated or otherwise unable to get to the polls in order to cast an absentee ballot. HB 95 would do away with the requirement to fit any of those criteria and allow any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot without an excuse. Full Article: Legislation introduced in Alabama's 2023 session creates new rules for absentee voting, voters with disabilities | Alabama Public RadioAlabama: Prefiled election bills require paper ballots, ban internet-capable voting machines | Maddie Biertempfel/WHNT
One state lawmaker is working to codify some of Alabama’s election rules into law. The first election-related bill from Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R- Prattville) would require paper ballots for all elections. The second prohibits any vote county machines from connecting to the internet. The current administrative code already has those rules in place. Chambliss said these bills would cement them into law. “If there is a problem, say a lightning strike or computer failure or something like that, we always have a paper trail to go back and to make sure that we have the count exactly right,” Chambliss said. New Secretary of State Wes Allen supports the proposals. He said even though Alabama has secure elections, strengthening the current rules is important to voters. Full Article: Prefiled election bills require paper ballots, ban internet-capable voting machinesAlabama voting machines challenged as unreliable in court hearing | Mike Cason/AL.com
Montgomery County Circuit Judge Greg Griffin is holding a hearing today on a lawsuit that seeks to block Alabama’s use of electronic ballot-counting machines in the November election. Plaintiffs in the case claim the machines are unreliable and susceptible to hacking and tampering that can change election results. They have asked the court to order the state to count ballots by hand through a process outlined in their lawsuit. Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked the court to dismiss the case, saying the claims are based on speculation and innuendo. The lawsuit was filed in May by former gubernatorial candidate Lindy Blanchard, state Rep. Tommy Hanes, a Republican from Jackson County, Dr. David Calderwood of Madison County, and Focus on America, a social welfare organization. Blanchard, who finished second to Gov. Kay Ivey in the Republican primary, withdrew from the lawsuit. Dean Odle, another Republican candidate for governor in this year’s primary, attended this morning’s hearing and said he supports the plaintiffs in the case. Full Article: Alabama voting machines challenged as unreliable in court hearing - al.comAlabama Secretary of State responds to lawsuit seeking to prohibit use of electronic voting machines | Jacob Holmes/Alabama Political Reporter
Secretary of State John Merrill is once again defending the state’s use of electronic voting machines in response to a lawsuit seeking to bar them from being used in the upcoming general election. The lawsuit was filed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Lindy Blanchard, who was defeated in the primary last week by incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey, and Rep. Tommy Hanes, R-Scottsboro, against Merrill and five members of the state’s Electronic Voting Committee. Merrill said the electronic tabulators are not susceptible to being manipulated. “We’ve never had a negative incident or occurrence related to the use of electronic voting equipment,” Merrill said. “No vulnerabilities have ever been exposed or introduced at any level and I’m confident that will remain the standard. If I was not confident, we would be addressing that.” The lawsuit seeks to prohibit the use of the tabulators in the general election and force the state to use paper ballots and hand counting. It would require three individuals to count the ballots, while being recorded by camera. The lawsuit claims machines manufactured by Election Systems & Software, the provider of all Alabama machines, can be connected to the internet, but Merrill said that is not the case in Alabama. Full Article: Merrill responds to lawsuit seeking to prohibit use of electronic voting machinesAlabama: MyPillow’s Mike Lindell again questions election: Secretary of State says state ‘didn’t have any issues’ | William Thornton/AL.com
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill on Friday once again swatted away suggestions by MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell that hundreds of thousands of votes were flipped from Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election in Alabama. “The thing we have maintained is that we didn’t have any issues, any irregularities, any inconsistences, any probing, any concerns that was introduced at any level to us,” Merrill said by telephone Friday. Last month, Lindell said in a video that while Alabama is a “role model as to how elections should go,” its voting system was “hacked…just like every other state,” possibly by accessing machines remotely through Bluetooth technology. Lindell did not offer any evidence of his claims in the video or provide details on who he thought was involved. He said at that time that 100,000 votes were changed in the state and “every single county was affected.” Donald Trump garnered 1.4 million votes in Alabama, compared to more than 849,000 for Joe Biden last November. At that time, Merrill said what Lindell was alleging was not possible.
Full Article: MyPillow’s Mike Lindell again questions Alabama election: John Merrill says state ‘didn’t have any issues’ - al.comAlabama Secretary of State disputes MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s claims state had 100,000 ‘flipped’ votes | Leada Gore/AL.com
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill is disputing claims cybercriminals “flipped” 100,000 votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The claims came from Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow and an adviser to former president Trump. Lindell has been touring states in an effort to prove the election was stolen from Trump via computer manipulation. He visited Merrill and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey last week, saying he planned to run “tests” on the state’s voter rolls. In a video posted online Sunday, Lindell said while Alabama is a “role model as to how elections should go,” its voting system was “hacked…just like every other state,” possibly by accessing machines remotely through Bluetooth technology. Lindell did not offer any evidence of his claims in the video or provide details on who he thought was involved. “This was the one time we’re going to have to do a little bit of a deeper dive here. On the surface you can’t see where it happened,” Lindsell said. “What I guarantee they’ve had to do in Alabama is the bad people…went deeper into the well. Very deep into the well of how they did the flips.” Lindell’s data said 100,000 votes were changed in the state and “every single county was affected.” Merrill said that’s not possible. “All our (voting) machines are custom-built. There’s no modem component. You can’t influence them through a cell phone or a landline. There’s no way they can be probed or numbers manipulated,” Merrill told AL.com.
Full Article: Secretary of State disputes MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s claims Alabama had 100,000 ‘flipped’ votes - al.comAlabama: MyPillow’s Mike Lindell to run ‘tests’ on voter list after meeting Merrill, Ivey – Howard Koplowitz/AL.com
MyPillow founder and Donald Trump adviser Mike Lindell plans to conduct “tests” on Alabama’s voter rolls after purchasing the list, said Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, who along with Gov. Kay Ivey met with Lindell on Friday. Lindell, the founder and CEO of MyPillow who is Trump’s main attack dog in the former president’s battle contending the 2020 presidential election was stolen, is going to comb through the list of Alabama voters to determine whether the state has any ineligible people on it, including deceased residents. Merrill said he doesn’t expect Lindell to find evidence that Alabama’s voter list, which is available for purchase by anyone, is tainted. “We know we don’t put people on the voter rolls unless they’re qualified to be on the voter rolls,” the secretary of state told AL.com. Lindell, who set up the meeting with Merrill after attending Trump’s “Save America” rally in Cullman in late August, heaped praise on Alabama’s election procedures, ranging from the state’s voter ID law to how votes are tabulated in the state, according to Merrill. But Lindell “still believes there’s a potential to hack some equipment, even though we assured him none of our equipment is connected to the Internet,” the secretary of state said.
Full Article: MyPillow’s Mike Lindell to run ‘tests’ on Alabama voter list after meeting Merrill, Ivey - al.comAlabama: COVID-19, curbside voting ban exacerbate difficulties for voters with disabilities like me | Dr. Eric Peebles/AL.com
I believe voting is the most sacred of all civic responsibilities. Because I have spastic cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects coordination and control of motor function, I require assistance to help me fill out ballots. But I am determined to exercise my fundamental right to vote in person whenever I can. This has been a lifelong endeavor. In the mid-1980s, my local public school tried to bar me from attending because of my disability and wheelchair use. School officials even said I was a danger to other students because of my power wheelchair. My mother refused to accept this discrimination and lobbied local leaders on my behalf. After two years of advocacy, my school district was put under federal supervision, and I was allowed to attend a public school. I registered to vote after I turned 18, and I have tried to vote in every election since. I’ve long embraced the words spoken by one of the fathers of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Justin Dart, who once told a gathering I attended: “Get into empowerment. Get into politics as if your life depended upon it. It does.” My condition puts me at high risk for contracting and suffering severe complications, including death, from COVID-19. So as the 2020 elections neared, I felt compelled to protect my right to vote safely.
Full Article: COVID-19, curbside voting ban in Alabama exacerbate difficulties for voters with disabilities like me - al.com
Alabama: Attorney for Democrats: Hundreds of voters ‘disenfranchised’ in Tuscaloosa | Lee Roop/AL.com
An attorney for U.S. Sen. Doug Jones says Tuscaloosa County election officials have been “suppressing qualified Tuscaloosa voters” from voting absentee this year by forcing them to stand in stalled lines for absentee ballots and mailing ballots out too late to be returned by mail. Jones' campaign attorney Adam Plant mailed a letter to Tuscaloosa County Circuit Clerk Magaria Bobo Oct. 28 saying she was suppressing voters. Two attempts to reach Bobo for comment Friday were not successful. “The volume of absentee voters in Tuscaloosa County was absolutely foreseeable and you did not take adequate steps to allow these voters to cast their ballots,” Plant’s letter said. “You are forcing qualified voters to miss school, work and other parts of their life standing in a line at the courthouse you are in charge of processing.” “Hundreds if not thousands of voters” in Tuscaloosa County have not received the absentee ballots they requested for Tuesday’s presidential election in time to mail them back before the deadline, an Alabama Democratic Party official said Sunday.But a spokeswoman for Alabama’s top election official, Secretary of State John Merrill, said Sunday that Tuscaloosa County voting officials have told him “they are caught up on everything.”
Full Article: Attorney for Democrats: Hundreds of voters ‘disenfranchised’ in Tuscaloosa - al.com
Alabama: Some absentee ballots could be invalidated by timing of court ruling | Mike Cason/AL.com
Rulings in a federal lawsuit over absentee voting laws in Alabama just weeks before the election could result in some absentee ballots not counting, depending on when voters sent them in. Under Alabama law, absentee ballots have to be witnessed by two adults or a notary to be counted. The lawsuit, filed by several organizations and individual voters last summer, contended that enforcing that requirement on voters at high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 because of age or medical condition violated their federal voting rights during the pandemic. The lawsuit also challenged other provisions, including a photo ID requirement and the state’s ban on curbside voting. On Sept. 30, U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon ruled in favor of the organizations and individuals who filed the lawsuit. His ruling blocked the state from enforcing the witness requirement for voters who signed a statement saying they had a medical condition that put them at heightened risk from the virus. But on Oct. 13, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the request of state officials and issued a stay blocking part of Kallon’s order, a decision that put the witness requirement back in force.
Full Article: Some Alabama absentee ballots could be invalidated by timing of court ruling - al.com
Alabama: Supreme Court Conservatives Agree With Alabama Conservatives: Voting Should Be Dangerous and Difficult, as the Founding Fathers Intended | Elliot Hannon/Slate
In an unsurprising twist, the state of Alabama has moved to make it harder to vote in next month’s election by prohibiting curbside voting. On Wednesday, the conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court unsurprisingly agreed that forcing at-risk voters into the polling booth during a pandemic was how the Founding Fathers would have wanted it—you know, original intent and all. The Supreme Court’s conservatives ruled 5 to 3 on an emergency application to block a lower court decision that said counties in the state could offer curbside voting if they wanted to. The court sided with Alabama’s Republican secretary of state, John Merrill, who barred counties from allowing a form of contactless curbside voting that is being allowed in various forms across the country, including notoriously vote-suppressing states like Texas. “Some level of risk is inherent in life and in voting, pandemic or no,” Merrill argued.
Alabama law does not weigh in on curbside voting, and it’s a practice that some counties in the state have used in the past. When Merrill decided, at the height of the pandemic, to prohibit the practice of essentially dropping off your vote with an election worker, rather than waiting in line and doing the same act inside a fire station or elementary school, several Alabamians sued on the grounds that the prohibition violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by not providing a reasonable accommodation for vulnerable voters. Those voters are primarily elderly residents and those with health conditions that make them high-risk if they contract the coronavirus. Last month, a federal court agreed that a curbside accommodation—that was optional, not required—was reasonable.
Alabama: US Supreme Court Bars Curbside Voting in Alabama | Adam Liptak/The New York Times
The Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked a trial judge’s ruling that would have allowed, but not required, counties in Alabama to offer curbside voting.The vote was 5 to 3, with the court’s more conservative members in the majority.The court’s brief, unsigned order gave no reasons, which is typical when it rules on emergency applications, and it said the order would remain in effect while appeals moved forward.In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Elena Kagan, said the state’s policy discriminated against older and disabled voters.“If those vulnerable voters wish to vote in person,” Justice Sotomayor wrote, “they must wait inside, for as long as it takes, in a crowd of fellow voters whom Alabama does not require to wear face coverings,” referring to masks that help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Alabama: 17 attorneys general oppose curbside voting ban in Supreme Court | Mike Cason/al.com
Attorneys general for the District of Columbia and 16 states have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing Alabama’s effort to preserve a statewide ban on curbside voting.The AGs said many of the states that joined in the brief have experience with curbside voting and policies that leave decisions on curbside voting to local officials. “Through that experience, states have learned that curbside voting is safe, relatively easy to implement, and not associated with voter fraud,” the brief says. “Moreover, curbside voting is particularly beneficial for vulnerable citizens and those with mobility challenges, including those with disabilities. Especially in the context of the novel coronavirus, it furthers states' interests to allow counties—within reason, and consistent with the law—to implement common-sense measures like curbside voting meant to safeguard both the franchise and public health.”