The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 15, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a law in March prohibiting voters from receiving assistance in filling out or delivering their absentee ballots.  October 11th, a federal appeals court upheld a stay of that law for at least the 2024 election.

Sept. 24th, Chief U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor stayed portions of Senate Bill 1.  Proctor wrote in his opinion that the NAACP demonstrated that the law interferes with blind, disabled or illiterate voters from choosing who may assist them in the voting process, as allowed in Section 208 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

SB1 only allowed close family members or cohabitants to assist a voter in request ing, filling out, or returning an absentee ballot, and stopped the get-out-the-vote work of democracy and civil rights groups.

Section 208 states: “Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of

blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice, other than the voter’s employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter’s union.”

The decision is in effect for the 2024 election.  

Pro-voter groups had also argued the law’s vague language violated freedoms of speech and association, and interfered with the 14th Amendment’s due process protections.   Judge Proctor rejected those claims.

We’ve linked the decision at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama (via Democracy Docket) – Opinion and Order Alabama State Conference of the NAACP v. Marshall

American Democracy Minute – Alabama Legislature Poised to Add More Barriers to Absentee Voting, Claiming ‘Ballot Harvesting’, Despite No Evidence

Alabama Political Reporter – 11th Circuit rejects stay in key Alabama absentee voting law, protects vulnerable voters
Alabama Reflector – Federal appeals court won’t block decision limiting Alabama absentee ballot law

Groups Taking Action:
Alabama NAACP, League of Women Voters AL, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, Greater Birmingham Ministries

Check Your Voter Registration:

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
• USA Vote Foundation – Registration, Eligibility, State Election Office Links
• Vote.Gov – Register to Vote in Your State
• Vote.Org – Check Your Registration to Vote
  
  

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRightsAct #Alabama #DisabilityVote

The post Disabled Alabama Voters Get Win as Federal Appeals Court Upholds Stays on Law Prohibiting Assistance with Absentee Ballots appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

Listen: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/americandemocracyminute/episodes/2022-05-24T08_27_27-07_00

Today’s Links:

Oklahoma passes new laws –
Making use of absentee ballots more complicated
Slightly increasing access to blind voters
Prohibiting any state body other than the legislature from making election law

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Today we’re in Oklahoma, where new elections laws signed by Governor Kevin Stitt slightly improved voting access for some disabled citizens, but adds significant layer of complexity to absentee ballot voting.

After the Oklahoma legislature patted themselves on the back in 2021 for an added day of in-person early voting and allowing for early voting on Saturdays, the newly-signed House Bill 3364 requires a code, retained in a government voter file accessible to local election officials, to be added by the voter on the absentee ballot.   No code, no vote.  And if your voter record doesn’t have a code on file? Your absentee ballot won’t be counted.   

Another bill, HB 1711, does allow for a ballot to be distributed electronically to the blind, but makes no provision to return the ballot electronically.  All absentee ballots must be either mailed or returned in person.

Also concerning is Oklahoma’s new law giving the legislature the last word on election rules.   Senate Bill 523 prohibits any branch of state government, including the Oklahoma elections board from modifying state statute, and allows legislative leadership to act as “intervenors” in challenges to election law.   Such laws are being implemented around the country and are seen by pro-voter groups as enabling partisan interference in election results. 

Oklahoma absentee ballot voters should check with their election officials to make sure they have the proper code to exercise their freedom to vote.

We have links to details to these new laws on at our website, AmericanDemocracyMinute.org/  

Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we DO.” 

For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

The post American Democracy Minute for May 25, 2022: Oklahoma Adds Layer of Complexity to Absentee Voting, Gives Legislature More Power on Elections appeared first on American Democracy Minute.