[ad_1]
Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday superior laws to prohibit help with absentee ballot functions, a measure Republicans stated is required to fight voter fraud however that opponents argued would discourage voting.
The Alabama Senate accepted the invoice on a 27-8 vote that broke down alongside occasion strains. The invoice now strikes to the Alabama House of Representatives.
Senate Republicans, who referred to as the invoice a precedence for the session, stated it is aimed toward stopping “ballot harvesting,” a pejorative time period for dropping off accomplished ballots for different individuals. Republicans stated they wish to get the laws in place earlier than the November election.
WHAT IS RANKED CHOICE VOTING, THE CONTENTIOUS ELECTION METHOD EXPANDING ACROSS THE NATION?
The laws would make it a misdemeanor to return another person’s absentee ballot software or distribute functions prefilled with a voter’s identify or different data. It would turn into a felony to pay an individual or obtain fee to “distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain, or deliver a voter’s absentee ballot application.”
“This is a invoice about voting rights and the integrity of our elections in the state of Alabama,” Sen. Garlan Gudger, the invoice’s sponsor, stated.
The Alabama Capitol constructing is seen in Montgomery, Alabama on Feb. 27, 2010. Alabama legislators superior a proposal to limit help with absentee ballot functions on Feb. 13, 2024. (Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
The invoice is earlier than lawmakers after a 2023 proposal that may have largely banned any sort of help in voting by absentee ballot didn’t win approval.
Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton stated the invoice invokes the state’s historical past of proscribing voting.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“People in my community died for the right to vote. … My great-grandmother used to have to tell how many jellybeans were in the jar just to be able to register to vote,” Singleton stated.
Opposed lawmakers and teams stated they had been involved the stiff penalties would make individuals afraid to assist others with ballots.
Several Republican-led states have regarded to limit absentee ballot help. A federal choose final 12 months blocked a Mississippi regulation that may have restricted who might assist an individual with an absentee ballot.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink