A Kentucky polling place welcomes voters in November 2023. A group of Alabama nonprofits have formed a voter information site designed to address what they call new state obstacles to voting. (Matthew Mueller/Kentucky Lantern)
Several nonprofit groups have launched an initiative to increase voter participation in the face of new Alabama laws supporters call election security and critics call efforts to restrict the ballot.
The move has brought criticism from Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, who has called such efforts “data-mining,” which the organizations deny.
Alabama Values, a grassroots communications organization that promotes democracy and civic engagement, has partnered with Faith in Action Alabama, Energy Alabama, the South Alabama Black Women’s Roundtable and other nonprofit groups to create “Defend the Ballot,” a platform that informs voters about the key issues while breaking down some of the barriers that have prevented them from voting.
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“It is a grassroots initiative focused on protecting voting rights and combating voter suppression in Alabama,” said Anneshia Hardy, executive director of Alabama Values. “Historically, Alabama has had issues with voter suppression. And then we look at this toward a contemporary frame, and we see those issues still exist.”
The website provides residents of Alabama with their voter registration status, candidate information and the various items they can vote on within their district. It also promotes events dedicated to increasing voter participation in the state.
Similar information can be found in the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office. In a statement Monday, Allen cited that fact and said he had “a track record of calling out deceptive election information.
“Once again, so-called ‘nonpartisan’ third party groups are data-mining, collecting the personal identifying information of unsuspecting Alabamians as they attempt to register to vote.”
The platform does not collection information, Hardy said.
People who link to the site can get logistics information related to the coming November election, from confirming that a voter is registered to participate in next month’s election, to informing them of their polling location.
The website, based on information provided by the user, will also provide a person with the list of candidates and issues that will be listed on their ballot for the election. This includes not only the national races, but candidates specific to their county and municipality.
It will also provide the items they will vote on, including proposals to fund the school district through increased property taxes.
“These are things that people need help with the most,” Hardy said. “People can actually build their ballot.”
The site also promotes events hosted by college students and the ACLU of Alabama that encourage voter participation.
Daniel Schwartz, executive director for Faith in Action Alabama, one of the nonprofit partners for Defend the Ballot, said the initiative was launched amid new restrictions on absentee ballot assistance.
“There have been efforts to make it more difficult to vote absentee,” he said.
SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, was signed by Gov. Kay Ivey earlier this year. It prohibits someone from knowingly receiving a payment to assist a voter with an absentee ballot by making it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison for “distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining or delivering” an absentee ballot application.
It also makes it a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, if a person knowingly offers compensation to a “third party to distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain or deliver.”
This measure has troubled voting rights groups who filed a lawsuit challenging the law claiming it criminalizes people who want to assist those who need assistance completing and submitting their absentee ballots by mail, and that it violates provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
A federal judge last month limited the scope of the law as applied to blind, disabled and illiterate voters, saying they had the right to select people to assist them with filling out their ballots under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The state plans to appeal.
Voting rights groups have also filed a lawsuit to challenge the actions of the Secretary of State’s Office to remove some 3,000 people from the voter rolls because they have been issued “noncitizen identification numbers.”
According to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, which tracks voter turnout for midterm and general elections, Alabama turnout for the 2022 midterms was slightly more than 33% while the turnout nationwide was at 46%.
“We see the ‘Defend the Ballot’ effort as a way to get out information about this election and to make sure that all votes are counted,” Schwartz said.
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