CLC, Alabamians Sue Over New Law Threatening to Silence Voters Right Before 2024 Election

Montgomery, AL — Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing two Alabama voters with past felony convictions in a lawsuit challenging a new law, H.B. 100, that could deprive many Alabamians of their freedom to vote in the 2024 election.  

The bill, set to go into effect on October 1, 2024, effectively adds over 120 felonies to Alabama’s so-called list of “crimes of moral turpitude,” which take away a person’s right to vote.

Implementing this bill just one month before the November election will create substantial confusion for voters and election officials alike, as it changes the rules of voter eligibility immediately prior to a general election.  

Worse still, absentee voting begins in Alabama on September 11, 2024 — before H.B. 100’s October 1 effective date. This means that some Alabama voters could cast their ballots as eligible voters but become ineligible by the time their ballot is set to be counted.

The new law also overrules the will of Alabama voters, who in 2022 overwhelmingly voted to amend the Alabama Constitution to ban changes to election laws within six months of a general election.  

“Every American should be able to exercise their freedom to vote, regardless of whether they have a past felony conviction. Yet, H.B. 100 makes the already confusing voting rights restoration process in Alabama even harder to navigate,” said Blair Bowie, director of CLC’s Restore Your Vote program. “Most Alabamians with prior felony convictions have been able to vote since 2017. This new law takes Alabama backward by unfairly denying certain voters a chance to make their voices heard in the November election. We can’t have an inclusive and accountable democracy when an entire class of citizens is denied the freedom to vote.”

“I find it egregious that Alabama legislators enacted a law that retroactively costs someone their voting rights, without any new charges, after they’ve fought so hard to earn them back,” said JaiGregory Clarke, Birmingham hub organizer and voter rights restoration state lead at Faith in Action Alabama. 

CLC’s lawsuit, filed in partnership with Alabama attorney J. Mitch McGuire, seeks to block H.B. 100 from being implemented so currently eligible Alabama voters with felony convictions will not be disenfranchised this November.

Background:

Alabama’s Constitution does not disenfranchise all individuals with felony convictions, but it prevents those convicted of “felonies involving moral turpitude” from voting until their rights are restored. This vague language, originally adopted in the 1901 Alabama Constitution to “establish white supremacy in this State,” was a method of keeping Black people from voting without overtly breaking federal law.  

Until 2017, Alabama law disenfranchised more than 130,000 Black citizens — roughly 15% of Black adults in the state – and never explained which felonies were disqualifying until 2017, allowing the state to arbitrarily and unequally enforce this law.

Alabamians had long been pushing the state to clarify which felony convictions take away the right to vote. In 2017, the Legislature finally passed a law defining what convictions take away the right to vote.

The 2017 law enshrined the freedom to vote to all Alabamians with felony convictions that were not on the list. Now, Alabama is backsliding and seeking to disenfranchise more of its citizens just over a month before the 2024 general election and while early voting is already underway.  

CLC’s Restore Your Vote tool is a helpful resource to help people with past felony convictions understand their voting rights. Learn more here.