Alabama AG appeals ruling allowing disabled voters to vote by mail

The Alabama attorney general’s office said Wednesday it would appeal a federal court ruling that blocked part of a new state law that criminalizes certain types of assistance with mail-in voting.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor ruled Tuesday that part of the law violates the federal Voting Rights Act, which allows blind, disabled and illiterate voters to designate a person to help them fill out a form.

As of Wednesday morning, the appeal had not yet been filed.

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SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, made it a class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a person to knowingly receive payment to “distribute, order, request, collect, complete, prefill, obtain, or deliver” an application. A person convicted of knowingly paying or providing a gift to a “third party to distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain, or deliver” would be subject to a class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Messages were left Wednesday morning with the attorney general’s office and a spokesperson for the plaintiffs’ attorneys.