Judge blocks one part of new Alabama absentee ballot restrictions

MONTGOMERY, 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.”

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-hide-dates=«true» data-show-loadmore=«true»