MONTGOMERY, Ala — Alabama says a new state law expanding the list of offenses that can lead to a person’s disenfranchisement will not take effect until after the November election and has asked a judge to lawsuit over the effective date.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office wrote in a court filing Friday that the new law, which takes effect Oct. 1, cannot be used to prevent people from voting in the upcoming election because the Alabama Constitution prohibits new election laws from taking effect within six months of a general election.
“Plaintiffs ask the court to order that a new law not be enforced until after the November 5, 2024 general election. But there is no need for such an order because the law at issue will not be enforced until after the election,” attorneys for the state wrote in the document responding to the lawsuit.
The Campaign Legal Center filed the lawsuit in Montgomery Circuit Court last month to clarify that the new law would not prevent people from voting in the November election. The center argued that there was a lack of guidance from the state. Without clarity, they argued, it creates a confusing situation for voters and registrars trying to figure out who is eligible to vote in November.
HB100 adds that a conviction for attempting, soliciting or conspiring to commit any of the more than 40 crimes that currently disenfranchise someone is also considered a disqualifying crime. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two men, both convicted of attempted murder years ago, who would lose their right to vote under the expanded list.
The state wrote that the two men “are free to vote” in the upcoming election, but “after that election, however, they will be disqualified and will no longer be able to legally vote unless their voting rights are restored.”
Alabama allows many people convicted of disqualifying crimes to file a request to restore their voting rights if they have served their sentence, parole, and probation and paid all fines and restitution ordered by the court. Some convictions, such as murder, do not allow a person to regain their right to vote.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall sent a memo to the state’s district attorneys on August 7 saying that the state law should not be enforced until after the election, writing that it “will be vigorously enforced in all future elections.”
The ban on voting for people with felony convictions in Alabama first dates back to the Jim Crow era of Alabama’s 1901 constitution, which was designed to keep black people and poor white people from voting. The constitution said people convicted of crimes of “moral turpitude” would lose their right to vote, but did not define those crimes. After years of debate and litigation, Alabama lawmakers in 2017 a list approved of more than 40 crimes — including murder, robbery, assault, theft and drug trafficking — that would deprive someone of the ability to vote.