During the past year, the issues with Alabama’s absentee voting excuses have become crystal clear. The absentee ballot application is cluttered with irrelevant and confusing excuses that are useless for ensuring election integrity. This complicates clear communication of what a person must submit to receive an absentee ballot. Additionally, the “excuse required” absentee voting system provides only limited protection for elderly people or vulnerable citizens who want to vote but are afraid to go to the polls. Acquiring a “Permanent Disability Absentee Ballot” is a confusing, onerous process that requires reapplication each election cycle. Alabama’s record turnout in the last election was partly driven by the ability of all voters to use the absentee process. To make things worse, voters in Alabama are not required to take health measures to protect the health of others at the polls.
Participating in the election process has never been easy in Alabama. Over the last year it could have been even more difficult in the unprecedented state of emergency caused by the devastating, deadly, pandemic. Fortunately, Alabama Secretary of State Merrill enacted an emergency rule that authorized voters who were concerned about their health during a pandemic to use the absentee voting system by marking “excuse #2” on the absentee ballot application. Alabamians revere the right to vote, and were very thankful that Secretary Merrill provided a legal option to vote without risking their health. We are hopeful for the possibility of passage of the House Bill 396 to codify the intent of last year’s Emergency Voting Rule.
Last year, absentee voting became an extremely popular method with the elderly and immunocompromised, as well as people who didn’t want to expose themselves to the deadly coronavirus at their polling place. Out of the total ballots cast for the 2020 General election, 305,662 (or 13.1% of the total vote) were absentee ballots. 2020 was a record-breaking year for voter turnout across Alabama! The great news is that our election system remained secure and fraud-free throughout the 2020 election cycles. This was due in large part to the dedication and hard work of election officials, employees, poll workers, poll watchers and the honesty of voters.
Even though we came through the 2020 elections with record participation, the absentee process was not straightforward; the League dealt with many voters who were confused about the application and submission process. Let’s take this one small step of eliminating the excuses for submitting an absentee ballot. Alabama citizens should be able to decide for themselves if they need to vote absentee.
The League of Women Voters says “drop the excuses” and pass House Bill 396.
