MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would ban paid absentee ballot assistance and another bill that would limit diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities and government agencies.
Republicans had cited the bills as priorities for the legislative session. The Senate, split along party lines, approved the changes made by the House of Representatives. The two bills now go to Governor Kay Ivey for her signature.
A spokeswoman for Ivey did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.
The absentee voting bill would make it a crime to distribute a pre-completed absentee ballot to a voter or return another voter’s completed application. It would become a crime to give or receive a payment or gift “for the purpose of distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, pre-filling, obtaining or delivering an absentee ballot application to a voter.”
Republicans said it’s necessary to combat voter fraud through “ballot harvesting,” a term for collecting multiple absentee ballots. Democrats argued there is no evidence of ballot harvesting and called it an attempt to suppress absentee voting.
“Anyone can still get help from anyone with applications, but no part of that application can be pre-filled. That’s it,” said Republican Sen. Garlan Gudger, the bill’s sponsor. “There’s a lot of pressure when some people say, ‘I want you to vote this way,’ and they submit an application. You can not do that. You need it empty,” Gudger said.
Democrats and several advocacy groups said the legislation is intended to make it harder for people to vote absentee.
“It’s just another voter suppression. It’s just a way to prevent certain people from having the opportunity and right to access the free flow of votes,” said Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton.
Jerome Dees, policy director of the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund in Alabama, said in a statement that the “cruel legislation aims to criminalize the charitable acts of Good Samaritans across the state, whether they are neighbors, church members, nursing home staff or prison staff. chaplains.”
Republican lawmakers across the country have pushed initiatives that would limit efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion, also known as DEI. The Alabama legislation would prohibit universities, K-12 schools and state agencies from sponsoring DEI programs, which the bill defines as classes, training, programs and events in which participation is based on a person’s race, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin or sexual orientation.
The bill led to lengthy debates in the House of Representatives earlier this month.
Republicans said they are trying to protect themselves from programs that “increase division,” but Black Democrats called it an attempt to roll back affirmative action programs that welcome and encourage diversity.
The bill says schools, universities and government agencies cannot require students, employees and contractors to attend classes and training sessions “that advocate or require agreement” with what the bill lists as eight “divisive concepts.” The list of prohibited concepts includes that “each individual must accept, acknowledge, affirm, or consent to a sense of guilt, complicity, or the need to apologize on the basis of his or her race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.” origin.”
The bill would also seek to ban transgender people on college campuses from using multi-occupancy restrooms that match their current gender identity.
The legislation says colleges and universities “must ensure that each multi-occupancy restroom is designated for use by individuals based on the sex an individual was assigned at birth. It is unclear how the requirement would be enforced.