MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A state representative has filed a bill to establish early voting in Alabama, the latest in a chain of bills from Democrats meant to encourage more state residents to exercise their right to vote.
HB 59, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, would open the polls four days prior to the election in every county to give the electorate more time to vote and potentially reduce waiting times at polling stations.
“This bill is not a partisan bill,” Jackson said in an interview Friday. “It is nonpartisan. Republicans, senior citizens, Black and white, have asked, ‘Why can’t we have early voting? We don’t want to stand in line.’”
Alabama does not currently allow people to vote in-person prior to Election Day. Alabama currently offers voting by absentee ballot, but only for a limited number of reasons.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, an independent, nonprofit think tank based in Boulder, Colorado, Alabama is one of three states that does not offer early voting or require voters to state a reason for voting early. The other two states are Mississippi and New Hampshire.
The state in recent years has passed more restrictive voting laws, including bans on drop boxes and criminal penalties for certain kinds of absentee ballot assistance.
“Instead of suppressing the vote, we want to open the ballot box access for democracy, for people to participate,” Jackson said. “People have to work, there are emergencies so they can’t get to the polls that day if something happens. If they don’t have an absentee ballot, they miss their vote.”
Under Jackson’s bill, each county would provide at least one early voting center. The centers must be open between four to six days prior to election day, and they must be open for at least four hours, depending on the day.
The proposal would require the centers to be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Democrats have filed several bills for the coming session to make voting easier.
Another bill, HB 64, prefiled by Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, would apply to gubernatorial and presidential contests and declare Election Day a state holiday every two years.
SB 7, filed by Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, is a comprehensive voting rights package with a series of provisions, including restoring voting rights to those who have lost it because of a felony conviction; Election Day voter registration and the creation of an Alabama Voting Rights Commission with the power to review and prevent legislation that limits voting access from taking effect.
Alabama traditionally has some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the nation. The Alabama Secretary of State’s office last month said that 58.5% of registered voters cast ballots in the presidential election, the lowest percentage since 1988.
According to the Election Lab from the University of Florida, Alabama had the 10th worst voter participation in the country. The worst was Hawaii at slightly more than 50%. Apart from Indiana (58.6%), the other nine states with low voter participation are in the South.
Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit to challenge SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey earlier this year, which criminalized people for assisting or receiving assistance with absentee ballots, alleging it amounted to voter suppression. A federal district judge prevented parts of the law from taking effect, ruling that it violated a provision of the Voting Rights Act pertaining to blind, illiterate and voters with a disability.
This article originally appeared in the Alabama Reflector, an independent, nonprofit news outlet. It appears on FOX54.com under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
