Several advocacy groups including civil rights organizations, the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Alabama-based advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama’s 42 District Attorneys, and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen. The suit is aimed at blocking Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), a law recently enacted in Alabama that would potentially impede certain engagement actions that are aimed at broadening the access to voting rights.
SB 1, which was signed into law last month, criminalizes acts such as requesting or collecting absentee ballots on behalf of individuals unrelated to the requester. The law also penalize acts such as filling out or mailing an application or ballot for someone else. Offences under the law could result in convictions for felony and sentences ranging up to 20 years.
According to the complaint, the law contains defects that are likely to suppress and discourage voter education and assistance, activities that have previously been carried out extensively by the plaintiffs and other organizations. The complaint further states that the law would especially harm groups such as black voters, elderly voters, incarcerated voters, voters with disabilities and low-literacy voters.
Danielle Lang, the senior director of voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center, commented calling SB1 a severe attack on Alabama’s voters and a detriment to democracy.
In their petition, the advocacy groups invoked the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution, the Voting Rights Act, and the Help America Vote Act of 2002, while appealing to the court to block the Alabama law.
Article originally reported on Jurist.