Grassroots groups form coalition to advocate for voting rights legislation in Alabama 

A coalition of grassroots organizations has teamed up to form the Alabama Voting Rights Coalition. AVRC will support and put forth legislative solutions that will remove unnecessary and unfair barriers in the voting rights restoration process for Alabamians with disqualifying felony convictions. Now, the group is calling on legislators to pass a voting rights restoration bill this legislative session.

The Alabama Legislature convened on January 11 for its annual legislative session and among the bills that have been filed are voting rights restoration bills – HB53 sponsored by Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, and SB6 sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham.

“The introduction and passage of the VRR is critical to the election freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution,” Rep. Hall said. “This bill ensures that all Alabamians will have equal access to participating in the voting process in Alabama. We must protect this sacred right from the Port City to the Rocket City and all towns in between.  The heart of voting rights began in Alabama and we will be the future of what the standard looks like across the nation. As a legislator, I will continue to rally my colleagues to support this essential piece of policy so that everyone has equal access to the voting process.”

Alabama is one of only three states that require a person to request a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote, or CERV, be issued for rights restoration rather than simply allowing re-registration when a person becomes eligible.

The bill would remove unnecessary and unfair barriers for those who have previously been convicted of disqualifying felonies but have completed the requirements for rights restoration.

Under the current system, people with disqualifying convictions can only restore their voting rights if they do not owe any fines, fees, or restitution. However, many Alabamians owe tens of thousands of dollars that they could never hope to pay off.

The bill would allow people who are making a good faith effort to pay off their legal debts to restore their right to vote.

“This does not eliminate the responsibility to pay those debts, but it does ensure that a person is not denied the right to vote just because they cannot afford to buy it back. This would create a pathway for more than 100,000 Alabamians to be able to vote again,” Blair Bowie, legal counsel and Restore the Vote manager for Campaign Legal Center, said.

The bill would remove the redundant, bureaucratic requirement to obtain a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote and let the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles automatically issue notice and proof of restoration once a person becomes eligible. This would restore the right to vote to more than 36,000 Alabamians.

More than 36,000 Alabamians with disqualifying convictions are eligible to restore their right to vote by asking for a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote (CERV).

“The VRR bill is important to us, because we understand that a person who does not have their voting rights, doesn’t have full citizenship,” Rodreshia Russaw, executive director of TOPS, said.

“By TOPS being the veteran and initiators of the lawsuit in 2008 in stopping the unconstitutional ways of the state of Alabama taking people’s voting rights, it is very dear and vital to us for people to have their voting rights and also that people know that the thousands of eligible voters haven’t lost their voting rights, if they have a crime not involving moral turpitude. This applies to those whether they are incarcerated or not. This work is now shown on the absentee ballot, stated that a person incarcerated can vote while in prison or jail.”

The Alabama Voting Rights Coalition is composed of Alabama Forward, Alabama Values Progress, ACLU Alabama, Campaign Legal Center, Faith in Action Alabama, Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM),  I Vote Madison,  Kenny Sharpton-Glasgow Ministries International, League of Women Voters Alabama, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Restorative Strategies LLC, Rollin to the Polls, SPLC Action Fund, The Ordinary People Society, and The United Women of Color. The coalition’s mission is to build collective power to advance voting rights in Alabama through education, outreach, collaboration, and advocacy.

The coalition’s goals are to “build power and cultivate accountable relationships between organization partners working toward voting rights in Alabama,” “influence policy and legislation related to voting rights,” and “contribute to a shared understanding of voting rights and justice among affiliated organizations and their bases through political education.”

Alabamians are asked to contact their state legislators and ask them to vote “yes” for HB53 and SB6.

AVRC is scheduled to host, #RestoreTheVoice Day on February 23. The virtual event will begin at 10 a.m., and will include an introduction to the coalition, its goals, more information on the bill, collateral to use to promote the bill, and other ways Alabamians can get involved and more.