Federal Judge Partially Blocks Alabama Voting Law

A polling place in Alabama's primary in Mountain Brook, on March 5, 2024. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

A federal judge on Sept. 24 blocked parts of an Alabama law, ruling that prohibiting assistance to some mail-in voters violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

The law, Senate Bill 1, bars voters from paying or providing gifts to people to distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain, or deliver applications for mail-in ballots, which are also known as absentee ballots.

The law, enacted earlier this year, also prohibits people, even if they’re not receiving payment or gifts, from submitting completed absentee ballot applications other than their own.

People who violate the law face up to 20 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor said in the new ruling that the provisions violate Voting Rights Act Section 208, which states that blind, disabled, and illiterate voters can receive voting assistance from “a person of the voter’s choice, other than the voter’s employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter’s union.”

“Disabled, blind or illiterate voters may be unable to secure an absentee ballot, and therefore unable to vote, without obtaining the assistance of a person of their choice,” the judge said. “This was the clear conclusion Congress reached in enacting the statutory provisions of Section 208. But, the language of SB 1’s submission restriction and payment and gift provisions purports to criminalize the act of giving Section 208 assistance to a voter.”

If the provisions take effect, “disabled, blind, and illiterate members of the plaintiff-organizations who wish to select someone from those organizations to provide section 208 assistance will suffer irreparable harm,” he said.

Proctor entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting Alabama officials from enforcing the provisions against blind, disabled, and illiterate voters.

The rest of the law is not affected by the injunction, which could turn into a permanent block or be rescinded after the judge enters a final ruling in the case.

Plaintiffs in the case include the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In a joint statement, the plaintiffs stated that the district court “has sided with the rights of the voters and is committed to promoting voting accessibility.”

“Our democracy works best when everybody can participate in it, and this ruling prevents the enforcement of a cruel law that would have suppressed the voices of blind, disabled, and low literacy voters,” the statement reads. “We’re proud of this victory, and we will continue to fight to ensure that all Alabamians can easily exercise their right to vote.”

A spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who had urged the court to reject the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, did not return a request for comment.