Republicans this month passed a new law in Alabama criminalizing some absentee ballot assistance. Voting rights groups in the state believe the law is unconstitutional.
Hi friend! This looks like better context to me, so I’ll add it here:
Anyone who knowingly pays someone else to request, collect, or deliver absentee ballots could face a Class B felony charge—the same felony class as first-degree manslaughter in Alabama—which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Anyone who is paid to request, collect, complete, prefill, obtain or deliver a voter’s absentee ballot faces a class C felony—the same felony class as looting, third-degree robbery and stalking—punishable by up to ten years in prison
It sounds like this bill prevents people from showing voters how to fill out a ballot as well as picking up sealed ballots to deliver. The sentences look to be more severe than most of Alabama’s election laws too. I’m looking forward to seeing how this is handled in court.
So by putting a stamp on an absentee ballot, therefore paying the postal service to deliver it, am I committing an Alabama felony? Or are interactions with the postal service explicitly exempted from it?
Hi friend! This looks like better context to me, so I’ll add it here:
It sounds like this bill prevents people from showing voters how to fill out a ballot as well as picking up sealed ballots to deliver. The sentences look to be more severe than most of Alabama’s election laws too. I’m looking forward to seeing how this is handled in court.
So by putting a stamp on an absentee ballot, therefore paying the postal service to deliver it, am I committing an Alabama felony? Or are interactions with the postal service explicitly exempted from it?
Surprisingly, sending it via USPS is explicitly allowed in the law.
https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/files/pdfdocs/SearchableInstruments/2024RS/SB1-enr.pdf
I say surpassing because I totally expected it to be a way for Republicans to kill mail in voting.