A voting rights group has filed a lawsuit challenging an Alabama law that increased penalties for crimes committed against election officials and expanded the list of crimes that disqualify an individual from voting in local, state, and federal elections.
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC), which represents two Alabama voters with past felony convictions, filed a complaint on July 18 challenging House Bill 100, which deals with the disqualification of individuals from voting over felony convictions involving “moral turpitude.”
The bill, set to come into force on Oct. 1, amends Section 17-3-30.1 of the Code of Alabama 1975 by adding about 120 new types of felonies to the current list of over 40, which now includes such crimes as burglary, drug trafficking, murder, robbery, and terrorism.
The new law adds that a conviction for attempting, soliciting, or conspiracy to commit one of the currently listed felonies would also amount to a disqualifying crime of “moral turpitude.” It also establishes a new category for crimes against election officials, stipulating that a felony that is motivated by the victim’s role as an election official is to be considered a crime of “moral turpitude” and therefore disqualifying.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of two Alabama residents with past convictions for attempted murder, which House Bill 100 now defines as disqualifying crimes, meaning that both plaintiffs stand to lose their right to vote.
“Most Alabamians with prior felony convictions have been able to vote since 2017,“ Blair Bowie, the director of CLC’s Restore Your Vote program, said in a statement. ”This new law takes Alabama backward by unfairly denying certain voters a chance to make their voices heard in the November election. We can’t have an inclusive and accountable democracy when an entire class of citizens is denied the freedom to vote.”
The complaint alleges that House Bill 100’s implementation date of Oct. 1, violates the Alabama Constitution, which prohibits election laws from going into effect within six months of a general election.
It argues that the new law will render some individuals who are already registered to vote in the November general election ineligible, creating confusion for both impacted voters and election workers. Further, because some impacted voters will have cast absentee ballots before the Oct. 1 implementation date, the lawsuit argues that the new law will also disrupt the conduct of the election itself.
“These two changes will create an administrative nightmare for election workers, who will be tasked with removing newly ineligible Alabamians from the voter rolls, approving or denying voter registrations, approving or denying absentee ballot requests, and counting ballots cast in the election by voters with HB 100’s newly disqualifying convictions,” the complaint reads.
The plaintiffs seek a court declaration that the law’s Oct. 1 implementation date is unconstitutional, thereby preventing it from being in force during the November election. They also ask the court to enter an order directing the Alabama attorney general to instruct district attorneys not to prosecute currently eligible individuals who register to vote before Nov. 6, but whose convictions will become disqualifying when HB 100 goes into effect.
A spokesperson for Alabama’s secretary of state, one of the defendants in the case, declined comment due to pending litigation. The Alabama Attorney General’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
