AG asks court to allow absentee voting law to remain in place while lawsuit is considered

A roll of "I voted" circular stickers. (Getty)

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office filed a request Friday asking the court to reject a request for a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit over the state’s absentee voting law.

Filed in the United States District Court of Alabama, the Attorney General argued in a 25-page filing that the plaintiffs have not shown they would likely succeed on the merits of the case and that the injunction would harm the state.

“SB1 strikes a balance between security and accessibility, deterring fraudulent conduct while insulating vulnerable voters and the electoral system from manipulation,” the filing states.

Messages were left with representatives for the plaintiffs and the Attorney General’s office Monday afternoon.

SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, makes a person receiving a payment or gift for “ distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining or delivering” an application a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. If a person knowingly pays or provides a gift to a “third party to distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain or deliver,” then it would be a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Civil Rights groups, including the ACLU of Alabama and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, filed a lawsuit to block the bill on April 4 , which cited the state’s history of voter suppression and said that volunteers could be punished.

“Voter assistance is a vital means of political expression in Alabama that allows civic leaders to promote and build political power among historically disenfranchised communities,” the lawsuit said. “And yet, the state has historically and consistently engaged in efforts to restrict voter assistance, including through criminal prosecutions of groups and individuals seeking to create political change through civic engagement.”

In the filing, the Attorney General’s office attorneys wrote that the law did not obstruct speech because a “person doesn’t speak by distributing or submitting another voter’s ballot application.”

The attorneys also wrote that the plaintiffs have not proven that they would suffer “irreparable injury” if they do not receive a preliminary injunction.

The Attorney General also wrote that an injunction would harm the state.

“Plaintiffs’ refusal to acknowledge the role of absentee ballot applications in voter fraud and the public’s substantial interests in election integrity generally and combating voter fraud specifically betrays the weakness of their position,” they wrote.

According to the Heritage Foundation , a right-wing leaning think tank, only 25 cases of voter fraud have taken place in Alabama since 2000.

The office also wrote that the law was not vague, in contrast to claims by the plaintiffs.

The attorney general’s office cites a declaration from Justin Grimmer, a political scientist from Stanford. Among the news articles cited by Grimmer is an article from the Alabama Reflector’s sister news site, the Virginia Mercury, on a nonprofit organization mailing erroneous ballot applications.

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