Washington — Today, in an important victory for Alabama voters, the Eleventh Circuit left in place a court order that temporarily blocks Alabama from prosecuting people and organizations who assist voters who are blind, disabled, or lack the ability to read or write in completing and submitting their absentee ballot applications. 

The decision in Alabama NAACP v. Attorney General of Alabama denied Alabama’s request to put on hold an earlier court order. This decision safeguards the rights of voters who are covered by Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which protects the right of blind, disabled, or low literacy voters to receive help from any person of their choice. 

Plaintiffs the Alabama NAACP, Greater Birmingham Ministries, the League of Women Voters of Alabama, the Alabama Disability Advocates Program (ADAP) are represented by the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama (ACLU of Alabama), and ADAP. 

The court’s decision recognizes that many vulnerable voters would be unable to vote if Alabama were allowed to enforce the blocked law (Senate Bill 1 or SB 1), which imposes significant criminal sanctions on civic groups, like Plaintiffs, who Section 208 voters look to for help. Because of this decision, disabled and low-literacy voters are free to receive help from anyone of their choice throughout the voting process.

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