Current:Home > MyJudge maintains injunction against key part of Alabama absentee ballot law -AssetLink
Judge maintains injunction against key part of Alabama absentee ballot law
View
Date:2025-04-12 12:17:39
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday refused to stay an injunction against a portion of a new Alabama law that limits who can help voters with absentee ballot applications.
Chief U.S. District Judge David Proctor last week 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 federal judge on Friday denied Alabama’s request to stay the injunction ahead of the November election as the state appeals his ruling.
Proctor reiterated his finding that the provision likely violates assurances in the Voting Rights Act that blind, disabled and illiterate voters can get help from a person of their choosing.
“It is clearly in the public’s interest to ensure that every blind, disabled, and illiterate voter who is eligible to vote absentee may exercise that right,” Proctor wrote.
Alabama is one of several Republican-led states imposing new limits on voter assistance. The new Alabama 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.”
Voter outreach groups said their paid staff members or volunteers, who are given gas money or food, could face prosecution for helping voters with an application.
The Alabama attorney general’s office maintains the law is needed to combat voter fraud. In asking that the injunction be lifted, the state argued that blind, disabled, and illiterate voters had “potentially millions of unpaid assistors” to help them.
Proctor wrote Friday that the Voting Right Act guarantees that those voters can get help from a person of their choosing, and “Alabama has no right to further limit that choice.”
Proctor added that the injunction is narrowly tailored and, “still allows defendant to ferret out and prosecute fraud and all other election crimes involving any voter or assistor.”
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.
veryGood! (285)
Related
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Kelly Ripa Jokes About Wanting a Gray Divorce From Mark Consuelos
- Honda, Nissan, Porsche, BMW among 1.7 million vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here
- Grey's Anatomy Writer Took “Puke Breaks” While Faking Cancer Diagnosis, Colleague Alleges
- NCAA hands former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh a 4-year show cause order for recruiting violations
- Liam Gallagher reacts to 'SNL' Oasis skit: 'Are they meant to be comedians'
- Ricky Pearsall returns to the 49ers practice for the first time since shooting
- What to know about shaken baby syndrome as a Texas man could be first in US executed over it
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Sofia Richie Shares New Details About Scary Labor and Postpartum Complications Amid Welcoming Baby Eloise
Ranking
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Ethan Slater’s Reaction to Girlfriend Ariana Grande's Saturday Night Live Moment Proves He’s So Into Her
- Yankees ride sluggers and wild pitches to ALCS Game 1 win vs. Guardians: Highlights
- Human Head Found in Box on Chicago Sidewalk
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Limited Time Deal: Score $116 Worth of Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Products for $45
- North Carolina governor candidate Mark Robinson sues CNN over report about posts on porn site
- Cavaliers break ground on new state-of-the-art training facility scheduled to open in 2027
Recommendation
Meet 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, the youngest Olympian competing in Paris
What college should I go to? Applicants avoid entire states because of their politics
Lupita Nyong'o Breaks Down in Tears Detailing Grief Over Black Panther Costar Chadwick Boseman’s Death
Error-prone Jets' season continues to slip away as mistakes mount
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
Kelly Ripa Jokes About Wanting a Gray Divorce From Mark Consuelos
Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw announces he will return for 2025 after injury
Easily decipher dashboard lights, laundry symbols with this hack