Prefiled bill would allow Alabamians with disabilities to receive absentee ballot help

An Alabama legislator has prefiled a bill that would allow people with disabilities to receive assistance when they submit their ballots.

HB 31, sponsored by Rep. Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, would allow people who are blind, disabled, or unable to read or write to designate another individual to deliver an absentee voter application, or the ballot itself, to an election manager to be considered during an election.

“I have a lot of seniors in my district, about five senior living apartment complexes, and I often get calls from those seniors for help with absentee voting,” Clarke said in an interview Wednesday. “I will often deliver an application to them so that they can submit that to the absentee election manager’s office for an absentee ballot.”

Under the bill, a person with a disability must designate a person to deliver the application at least five days before an election. The legislation also allows a disabled individual to designate a person to deliver the ballot to the election manager in person or place the ballot in an envelope to be mailed to the election manager by the time of the election.

HB 31 is part of a set of proposals from Democratic lawmakers who want to extend opportunities to vote for a larger part of the electorate as the state has imposed greater restrictions on voting in the name of election security and integrity.

SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in March, criminalizes certain forms of assistance in the preparation of absentee ballots.

Gudger’s proposal makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a person to receive a payment or gift for “distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining or delivering” an absentee ballot application. The person with a disability who offers payment could face a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Supporters of the bill said it would end a practice they called “ballot harvesting.”

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said in an emailed statement Wednesday that he would review the proposal.

“I support the strong protection of the absentee elections process, which is why I publicly supported Alabama’s ban on ballot harvesting last legislative session,” the statement said.

Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit in April challenging the law, arguing  that volunteers who provide aid could be punished for purchasing a stamp or sticker to someone with a disability. They also allege that a person dropping off a ballot could face a misdemeanor charge.

A federal judge in August allowed one claim from the plaintiffs to proceed — that the restriction in the law which prohibits other people from returning another person’s ballot application violates Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. That part of the law addresses voters’ ability to obtain assistance because of a disability.

Clarke said that she filed her bill independent of SB 1, but that “when SB 1 was filed, I saw an even greater need for HB 31.”

She added that submitting an absentee ballot can be cumbersome, which includes multiple steps such as placing the ballot into multiple envelopes.

“Ideally, to ensure that your ballot gets to the election manager’s office, you really need to go to the post office, have it weighed, so that it has sufficient postage,” Clarke said. “For a person who is disabled, that is a big burden.”

Democrats have filed other voting rights bills, though they face uphill battles in the Republican-controlled Legislature. SB 7, filed by Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery for the 2025  session, allows for automatic voter rights restoration in some cases; absentee voting without qualification and same-day voter registration.

The bill would also require the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office to maintain a statewide database for elections and voting and create an Alabama Voting Rights Commission to review and block measures from local governments that attempt to restrict voter access.

Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, supports the bill. Many people in the state are elderly and a significant portion of the electorate have a disability and need assistance with delivering their absentee ballots, she said.

“People who are blind, or unable to read or write, or otherwise disabled, need to be able to have someone pick up or deliver their absentee ballot application, or the ballot itself, in order to participate in the electoral process,” Jones said. “Not being able to have that access, they would have to have transportation and be able to get down to the courthouse or the election center, and that is not feasible for a lot of people.”