absentee voting

The first general election ballots for the presidential race are going out as Alabama officials begin mailing them to absentee voters with the Nov. 5 contest less than two months away. Wednesday's milestone is a sign of how quickly Election Day is approaching.

An Alabama lawmaker and voting rights advocates are introducing Senate Bill 7, also known as the Alabama Voting Rights Act. The legislation is being billed by supporters as a way to protect democracy and ensure equal access at the ballot box.

Opposing lawyers are battling in court over a new Alabama law that makes it illegal for outside parties to deliver or prefill someone’s absentee ballot application. A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday over a lawsuit challenging the new restrictions.

A coalition of civil rights, voting rights and disability rights organizations are suing Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama’s 42 District Attorneys and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen to block Alabama’s recently enacted law that bans paid assistance with absentee ballot applications.

A ruling that weakened a key part of the Voting Rights Act is spurring lawmakers in several states to enact state-level protections to plug gaps that the courts opened in the landmark federal law. The biggest blow to the federal law in the view of voting rights advocates was a 2013 Supreme Court ruling in an Alabama case that stripped the government of a potent tool to stop voting bias.

Governor Kay Ivey is giving approval to the so-called absentee voting bill, which makes it a misdemeanor to distribute a pre-filled absentee ballot application to a voter or return another voter's completed application. The legislation also outlaws paid assistance with absentee ballot applications.

Alabama lawmakers have approved a bill that would outlaw paid assistance for help with absentee ballot applications. They also approved another Tuesday that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities, schools and state agencies.

Republicans in the Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday advanced a bill to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities and state agencies. The House also approved legislation to make it a crime to pay someone for collecting absentee ballot applications.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Long absentee ballot lines in one Alabama county have brought accusations of voter suppression. The Alabama Democratic Party said…

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabamians are voting by absentee ballot in record numbers this year after pandemic rules made it easier to do so, even lining up…