Voting Rights
Efforts to restore voting rights for people with felony convictions lag in the Gulf South
A new report shows that more people with past felony convictions can vote in this election cycle than previous ones, but millions remain disenfranchised.
Justice Department sues Alabama saying state is purging voter rolls too close to election
Federal officials said the purge violates the “quiet period provision” of the National Voter Registration Act that prohibits the systemic removal of names from voter rolls 90 days before a federal election.
Lawsuit says Alabama voter purge targets naturalized citizens
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced last month that 3,251 people who had been previously issued noncitizen identification numbers will have their voter registration status made inactive and flagged for possible removal from the voter rolls.
Judge limits scope of lawsuit challenging Alabama restrictions on help for absentee ballot applications
Chief U.S. District Judge David Proctor ruled Wednesday that civic groups can pursue just one of their claims: that the law’s ban on gifts or payment for application assistance violates the Voting Rights Act’s assurances that blind, disabled or low-literacy voters can get help from a person of their choice. The judge granted the state’s request to dismiss the other claims raised in the lawsuit.
Alabama says law cannot block people with certain felony convictions from voting in 2024 election
The Alabama attorney general office wrote in a Friday court filing that the new law, which has a Oct. 1 effective date, cannot be used to block people from voting in the upcoming election, because the Alabama Constitution prohibits new election laws from taking effect within six months of the general election.
Alabama election officials make voter registration inactive for thousands of potential noncitizens
Secretary of State Wes Allen announced on Tuesday that 3,251 people will receive letters notifying them that their voter registration status has been made inactive.
Voting advocates in Alabama’s District 2 are training, gearing up for 2024 election
Nearly 40 participants took part in a recent Community Action Training to better prepare for the majority-Black district’s first election since being redrawn.
Thousands honor Selma Jubilee, voting rights ahead of March 5 election
On the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, thousands marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to honor those brutally attacked in the fight for civil rights.
Kamala Harris leads Bloody Sunday memorial as marchers’ voices ring out for voting rights
Harris joined those gathered at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where voting rights activists were beaten back by law enforcement officers in 1965. The vice president praised the marchers' bravery for engaging in a defining moment of the civil rights struggle.
As March 5 primary election nears, some voters are still unaware of District 2 change
Civics education groups, like the South Alabama Black Women’s Roundtable, are working to notify voters of the change made by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.
Judges aiming to give Black voters more influence in Alabama set to redraw congressional districts
U.S. District Judge Stanley Marcus, noting a ruling will be issued “shortly,” said the three-judge panel is aware of the time constraints posed by elections next year when the state's seven U.S. House seats will be on the ballot. The court could rule as early as this week.
Alabama asks US Supreme Court again to intervene in redistricting case
Despite losing at the Supreme Court earlier this year in the long-running redistricting case, Alabama is pursuing another appeal, hoping for a different result with the most recent GOP version of the map.
Plaintiffs in voting rights case urge judges to toss Alabama’s new congressional map
Plaintiffs in the high-profile redistricting case accused state Republicans of flouting a judicial mandate to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it" and enacting a map that continues to discriminate against Black voters in the state.
Black lawmakers say Alabama GOP’s proposed new congressional map insults the Supreme Court
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate advanced separate plans that increase the number of Black voters in the state’s 2nd congressional district, but do not establish the second majority-Black district sought by plaintiffs who won the Supreme Court case last month.
Alabama rushes to adopt new congressional map amid disagreement on what district should look like
Alabama lawmakers convene in special session Monday tasked by the court with adopting a new map by the end of the week. The directive comes after a surprise U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the lower court's ruling that Alabama's existing congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act.
New voting districts could change again in some states before the 2024 elections
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that Alabama’s congressional districts likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of Black voters. The ruling also could lead to new U.S. House districts in Louisiana, and potentially Georgia.
Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama redistricting case
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court's liberals in affirming a lower-court ruling that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in Alabama's congressional map.
Voting rights marcher recalls being clubbed, hearing fatal gunshot during pivotal day of protests
Della Simpson Maynor was just 14 when she marched for voting rights in her hometown of Marion, Alabama. But while events in Alabama helped give birth to the Voting Rights Act, court cases originating in the state have led to its steady erosion over the years.
Supreme Court opened the door to states’ voting restrictions. Now a new ruling could widen them
The justices are expected to rule in the coming weeks in a new case out of Alabama that could make it much more difficult for minority groups to sue over gerrymandered political maps that dilute their representation.
Biden to visit Selma for voting rights anniversary
President Joe Biden will speak for the annual remembrance of “Bloody Sunday,” the day in 1965 that police beat civil rights marchers near the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Remembering Homewood Resident And Civil Rights Activist Eileen Walbert
Eileen Walbert died last month at the age of 100. She was heavily involved in school desegregation and led a group of white people during a voting rights march in Selma the day before Bloody Sunday.
Organizer: Efforts To Rename Edmund Pettus Bridge Must Be A Group Effort
A petition calling on Gov. Kay Ivey to rename Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge has more than 120,000 signatures. We spoke with the Democratic strategist who started the online campaign.
Report Reveals Voter Access Difficult In Alabama
Super Tuesday is nearly a week away and hundreds-of-thousands of Alabama voters are expected to turn out. But according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Alabama remains one of the most difficult states for an eligible voter to register and cast a ballot.
#DougMeetsMiles: Jones Takes Questions Via Twitter at Forum With College Students
Sen. Doug Jones told an audience of students from Miles College that when he went to Washington, D.C. he didn’t realize that he was going to be a part of a government that functioned according to what someone says on Twitter — an oblique reference to President Donald Trump’s penchant for tweets that make the nation’s capital go topsy-turvy.
Some Alabama Voters Anxious Ahead of the Midterms
Groups such as the NAACP and the ACLU have closely monitored voting access. But voter roll purges and dozens of closed polling places in recent years have many Alabama voters worried ahead of Tuesday's midterms. They fear they'll encounter problems at the polls.
As Alabama Goes to the Polls, Worries Emerge That Some Are Denied Voting Rights
Since last year, Lorenzo French says he’s helped about 50 people in rural Greene County regain their ability to vote. Many of them were improperly removed from voter rolls because they had a felony conviction, though not the type that should have banned them from voting, French said. Others didn’t have photo identification, a requirement to vote in Alabama since 2014.
Committee Probes Whether Laws Limit Access for Voters
An Alabama advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights holds its first hearing Thursday in Montgomery. It’s the first of a series of discussions looking into the ways Alabama’s voting regulations affect people’s ability to vote. There will be testimony from academics and policy makers, and members of the public will be invited to comment.
New Law Could Simplify Restoring Voting Rights for Felons
For millions of Americans, past criminal convictions mean they can no longer vote. Getting back that right in many states is straightforward: serve your time, do probation, and have your voting rights restored. But in Alabama, those with felony convictions face enormous struggles ––especially when they’ve committed certain crimes. We’re talking about crimes of moral turpitude. If you’re confused, you’re not alone.
Feds Wont Sue Alabama Over “Motor Voter” Non-compliance
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today a settlement agreement with Alabama in connection with the state’s violation of the National Voter Registration Act. The move follows an investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Civil Rights Attorney Fred Gray On Fighting George Wallace And Segregation
In 1957, on the heals of his successful lawsuit that ended the Montgomery Bus Boycott, civil rights attorney Fred Gray represented a group of African American voters from Tuskegee who were shut out of voting in local elections when the Alabama Legislature re-drew the city limits in such a way as to remove them from the city. Gray sued the State in Federal Court. Almost four years later, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that race-based gerrymandering was unconstitutional.
Civil Rights Attorney Fred Gray Reflects on Montgomery Bus Boycott
Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the law that abolished literacy tests and other tools designed to keep black people from voting. The momentum for Selma and the civil rights victories of 1965 started ten years earlier with the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. Tuskegee civil rights lawyer Fred Gray was one of the forces behind that boycott. For WBHM, Greg Bass recently spoke with Gray about the bus boycott, and his extraordinary career. Gray went on to represent the Selma Marchers, Martin Luther King and a seamstress named Rosa Parks.
