A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied a request to stay a partial preliminary injunction on Alabama's new ballot harvesting law.
In September, Chief U.S. District Judge David Proctor granted a partial preliminary injunction on a new ballot harvesting law passed by the legislature in March.
The ACLU, NAACP and other groups filed the lawsuit in federal court in April against Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama's 42 District Attorneys and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen to block the recently enacted Senate Bill 1, which increased penalties for ballot harvesting in Alabama.
Proctor said in a filing ordering the preliminary injunction that the groups' likelihood of success on the merits as to their claim that a provision restricting payment and gifts in exchange for giving ballot assistance to voters is preempted by Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act.
Marshall said in September, "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."
U.S. Circuit Judges Adalberto Jordan, Jill Pryor, and Andrew Brasher made the ruling on Friday. Jordan and Pryor were appointed by former President Barack Obama, and Brasher was appointed by former President Donald Trump.
"The appellant's emergency motion for a stay of the district court's limited preliminary injunction is denied. Because the appellant has requested a ruling by today, our order is summary in nature. We conclude that the appellant has not made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits, the appellant (and thereby the state) will not be irreparably harmed if a stay is denied, the issuance of a stay would injure the plaintiffs (and other Section 208 voters), and the public interest does not weigh in favor of a stay," Jordan, Pryor, and Brasher said in their ruling on Friday.
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