Disappointment: Alabama’s OT kadyn proctor has resigned from alabama after been suspended for this reason…..
Alabama has tightened regulations on aiding voters requesting absentee ballots. Returning someone else’s ballot application is prohibited, and paying someone to disseminate or gather applications is a crime.
A day after the bill received final approval from the Alabama Legislature, Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama announced on Wednesday that she had signed it into law.
Ivey stated in a statement on Wednesday that “here in Alabama, we are committed to ensuring our elections are free and fair.” “Under my watch, there will be no funny business in Alabama elections.”
The law was identified by Republicans in the Alabama Legislature as a top priority for the year, with the goal of enacting it before the election in November. Republicans claimed that “ballot harvesting,” the practice of gathering numerous absentee votes, was necessary to stop voting fraud. Democrats countered that there is no evidence of ballot harvesting and described it as an effort to stifle absentee voting.
“This is merely further voter suppression. In the afternoon argument, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton stated, “It’s just a way of keeping some people from being able and entitled to the free flow of the vote.”
Giving a voter a pre-filled absentee ballot application would be considered a criminal under the proposed absentee voting bill. The bill further states that the application for an absentee ballot can only be returned to the absentee election manager in the voter’s county. Applications for absentee voting may be returned in person, by mail, or by commercial carrier.
Payment or gift-giving “for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining, or delivering a voter’s absentee ballot application” would be illegal.
Our constitutional system is built on the foundation of free and fair elections. In a statement, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen stated that “the passage of SB1 signals to ballot harvesters that Alabama votes are not for sale.”
A provision in the new law specifies that voters who are blind, disabled, or unable to read or write and who need assistance may receive it from a person of their choosing.
