On Friday, chief U.S. District Judge David Proctor kept a partial preliminary injunction on a new ballot harvesting law passed by the Alabama Legislature in March in place.
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 initially granted the partial preliminary injunction on the law in September.
Proctor ordered that “Marshall SHALL issue corrective instructions stating that the SB 1’s Submission Restriction and Payment and Gift Provisions have been preliminary enjoined as to blind, disabled, or illiterate voters and are not enforceable as to blind, disabled, or illiterate voters, within the meaning of Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, who request assistance from a person of that voter’s choice.”
In response to the order, Marshall filed motions in September appealing the preliminary injunction ruling and requesting a stay of the preliminary injunction while the order is on appeal.
“As Defendant’s evidence shows, 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. To be sure, the Court held that the “injunction does not in any way prevent Alabama from prosecuting voter fraud when it occurs.” But voter fraud was already illegal when the Legislature determined, based on the historical record, that proactive and preventative measures were also needed,” Marshall said in September.
Proctor said on Friday in an order denying the motion for a stay, “In reading Defendant’s Motion, one would think the court has enjoined Defendant from enforcing the entirety of Alabama Senate Bill 1 (“SB 1”). To the contrary, the court entered a limited injunction, which prohibits enforcement of SB 1 only to the extent that law is preempted by Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”).”
“The injunction is very narrow. The court is not opening the door to a flood of fraudulent voting by (or related to) disabled, blind, and illiterate absentee voters,” Proctor said in the filing.
Election Day is November 5.
Ballot Harvesting Injunction by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
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