Alabama Judge Dismisses Challenge to New Felony Disenfranchisement Law After State Delays Enforcement
An Alabama law that significantly increases the number of disenfranchising crimes for individuals with felony convictions will not go into effect until after the November 2024 general election, a Montgomery County judge clarified yesterday while dismissing a legal challenge to the new statute.
The dismissal ensued after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) issued guidance assuring that House Bill 100 — which adds nearly 120 new types of felony convictions that bar voting — will not go into effect on Oct. 1 as originally intended by the Legislature.
As a result, Alabamians with felony convictions who are currently eligible to vote under existing state law will still be able to cast their votes this November.
In a lawsuit filed last month, two Alabama voters with prior felony convictions argued that the law’s initial Oct. 1 enforcement date would add fear and confusion ahead of the upcoming general election — especially since some voters who were previously eligible would lose their right to vote in the middle of an election cycle.
The plaintiffs alleged that H.B. 100 ran afoul of Alabama’s constitution, which prohibits the Legislature from enacting new laws that may affect an election within six months of Election Day.
One of the plaintiffs, JaiGregory Clarke — who is an organizer and voting rights restoration leader at Faith in Action Alabama — said he is “grateful that an Alabama Judge affirmed the right to vote in the upcoming election for people like me, who have labored long to regain our place in society, and exercise the most basic right of citizenship.”
“It is curious that by contrast, Alabama Legislators have labored at least as long to suppress the voices of so many Alabamians,” Clarke added.
Alabama’s Jim Crow-Era constitution disenfranchises those convicted of “crimes of moral turpitude” until rights restoration, but does not enumerate a list of specific disqualifying crimes. According to the lawsuit dismissed yesterday, the state did not define a list of disenfranchising “crimes of moral turpitude” until 2017, thereby leaving nearly 15% of the state’s Black adult population without voting rights.
Alabama permits certain individuals with past felony conventions to apply for rights restoration and receive a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote only upon full sentence completion — including probation and parole — as well as the payment of all fines and court-ordered restitution.
Once H.B. 100 goes into effect following the Nov. 5 general election, it is possible the law could face other legal challenges. For the time being, advocates are hailing yesterday’s ruling as a victory for democracy and specifically for eligible Alabama voters with past convictions, who will maintain the opportunity to exercise their voting rights this election cycle.