Johnathan Walker:Judge blocks one part of new Alabama absentee ballot restrictions

MONTGOMERY,Johnathan Walker Ala. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a portion of a new Alabama law limiting help with absentee ballot applications, saying it violates the Voting Rights Act’s assurances that voters who are blind, disabled or cannot read can get help from a person of their choice.

Chief U.S. District Judge David Proctor issued a preliminary injunction stating that the law’s ban on gifts and payments for help with an absentee ballot application “are not enforceable as to blind, disabled, or illiterate voters.”

“The court easily concludes, after reviewing its language, that SB 1 unduly burdens the rights of Section 208 voters to make a choice about who may assist them in obtaining and returning an absentee ballot,” Proctor wrote.

The injunction blocked only one portion of the new law. Most of the law, which was challenged by voter outreach groups, remains in effect. Alabama is one of several Republican-led states imposing new limits on voter assistance.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office indicated in a court filing that it is appealing the decision.

The new law, originally known as Senate Bill 1, makes it illegal to distribute an absentee ballot application that is prefilled with information such as the voter’s name or to return another person’s absentee ballot application. The new law also makes it a felony to give or receive a payment or a gift “for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining, or delivering a voter’s absentee ballot application.”

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, the Legal Defense Fund, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program and the Campaign Legal Center filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of voter outreach groups. Proctor previously dismissed most of the claims.

The voter outreach groups said their paid staff members or volunteers, who are given gas money or food, could face prosecution for helping disabled voters with an application.

“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 organizations said.

In a request to stay the injunction, Marshall’s office wrote that the decision does not follow “common sense.” They argued anyone could help a disabled voter, but “just not in exchange for cash or gifts.” The state had argued the prohibitions are needed to stop paid operatives from corralling large numbers of absentee votes.

“Alabama’s elections will be less secure and the voting rights of the State’s most vulnerable voters less protected if SB1’s injunction remains in place,” Marshall’s office wrote.