Appeals court maintains block on Alabama absentee ballot restrictions
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A portion of a new Alabama law limiting help with absentee ballot applications will remain blocked, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday, siding with voting rights groups who argued that it discriminated against voters who are blind, disabled or cannot read.
A three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court unanimously affirmed a lower court decision from September that blocked a portion of the law. The measure made it illegal to distribute an absentee ballot application that is prefilled with information such as the voter’s name, or to return another person’s absentee ballot application. The new law also made it a felony to give or receive a payment or a gift “for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining, or delivering a voter’s absentee ballot application.”
In a two-page decision, the appeals court judges ruled that removing the lower court's injunction would “injure” voting access for disabled voters and goes against the public interest.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, Legal Defense Fund, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program and Campaign Legal Center filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of voter outreach groups.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/appeals-court-maintains-block-alabama-absentee-ballot-restrictions-114739380