Commission rejects opening courthouse for Saturday absentee voting
An effort to open the Jefferson County Courthouse for Saturday absentee voting was squelched Tuesday during the commission committee meeting.
Commissioner Sheila Tyson presented the resolution for consideration to be placed on the agenda of Thursday’s commission meeting. Commissioner Lashunda Scales moved the item and Tyson seconded it before it was defeated 3-2 on a roll call vote.
Tyson pressed her fellow commissioners as to why they voted no since a similar matter was moved to the agenda and approved in 2020.
“In 2020, we were under a pandemic,” Commissioner Joe Knight said. “There was a special circumstance issued by the secretary of state to give people an option to check to vote absentee. I just got something from (Jefferson County Deputy Circuit Clerk) Karen Dunn Burks about opening the courthouse for Saturday voting. We don’t have early voting.”
Burks’ memo to commissioners suggested having the courthouse open for Saturday absentee voting from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 15 and 22.
Tyson continued to argue her point, saying that Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill had provided permission for absentee ballots to be taken on Saturday.
“The secretary of state approved it and as long as it was approved by him, the clerks can work on Saturday,” Tyson said. “We don’t need y’all up here. You don’t need to come up here. This is all about accessibility.”
Commission President Jimmie Stephens said there are no conditions that currently exist that didn’t exist in any previous election prior to 2020, adding, “people are always going to get COVID.”
The commission president said he spoke Monday with Jefferson County Probate Judge James Naftel II, who agreed there is no need for the courthouse to be open for absentee voting on Saturday.
Following the meeting, Stephens acknowledged quoting President Biden that the crisis is over.
“The pandemic is finished and we should do what we can to get our lives back to normal,” Stephens said. “That is what we’re attempting to do, to go back to the normal pattern and practice of voting that we have done on all elections prior to the pandemic.
Stephens said the special circumstances that existed at the height of the pandemic required altering the normal practice when it came to giving everyone free access to voting.
“We did so and everyone utilized that,” he said. “Now, when we go back to a sense of normalcy, all of those are still afforded to the citizens but not voting Saturday because it’s never been needed in the past. If we change our normal pattern and practice of behavior, it needs to be done to a legislative act.”
Stephens said the increased cost of having the courthouse open for absentee voting on Saturdays in 2020 was borne by the federal government due to COVID.
“It falls back on Jefferson County now,” he said. “That’s another consideration. A, it’s not needed. B, it’s not uniformly applied. And, C, it costs Jefferson County taxpayer dollars. Based on those three things is where you saw our decision.”
Former Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron ends campaign for Alabama lieutenant governor
McCarron, who led the University of Alabama to back-to-back championships and played for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL, announced in October that he was running in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.
With federal relief on the horizon, Black farmers worry it won’t come soon enough
At the National Black Growers Council meeting in New Orleans, Black farmers respond to the $12 billion in tariff relief announced by the Trump administration and outline challenges farms are facing.
Democratic former Sen. Doug Jones launches campaign for Alabama governor
He said the state has urgent economic, health care and educational issues that are not being addressed by those in public office.
Alabama commission approves licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries as program eyes 2026 start
Commission Chairman Rex Vaughn estimated the products will be available in the spring of 2026. The state’s medical marijuana program has been delayed by false starts and litigation over who should hold the licenses to sell and grow cannabis.
Supreme Court struggles over whether Alabama can execute man found to be intellectually disabled
There was no clear outcome apparent after the justices heard two hours of arguments in an appeal from Alabama, which wants to put to death a man who lower federal courts found is intellectually disabled.
Alabama inmates plan work strike as families say crisis continues in the prison system
The families held a press conference near the construction site of Alabama’s new $1.2 billion prison in Elmore County. They said a humanitarian crisis is continuing in prisons despite years of federal investigations and attention.
