League of Women Voters says Alabama bill would suppress voter outreach efforts

This story was originally published in AL.com. 

The League of Women Voters of Alabama, Black Voters Matter, Greater Birmingham Ministries and other organizations spoke out today against a bill to make it a crime for election officials to accept funding or services from private citizens and private organizations to help with voter education, outreach, and registration efforts.

The opponents of the bill by Rep. Wes Allen, R-Troy, said it would suppress efforts by private groups to promote participation in elections and help people vote.

Allen disputed that and said his bill was intended only to stop state and county governments from mixing private funds with public funds to pay election-related expenses.

“We want to make sure that we put firewalls in Alabama to make sure private funding does not go into our elections process,” Allen said.

The bill is on the agenda for the Alabama House to consider on Wednesday.

At least eight states with Republican-controlled Legislatures passed restrictions last year on private funding of elections, the Associated Press reported. That was after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $400 million to help local governments cover increased election expenses caused by the pandemic in 2020. Conservative groups said the money disproportionately went to Democrat-leaning counties, the AP reported.

Allen’s bill, HB 194, bill says: “Notwithstanding any other law, no state or local public official responsible for the conduct of an election, nor his or her employee, may solicit, accept, or use any donation in the form of money, grants, property, or personal services from an individual or a nongovernmental entity for the purpose of funding election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach, or voter registration programs.”

A violation of the law would be a misdemeanor.

Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, a nonpartisan organization, said the language in the bill goes beyond the prohibition on private funds because it also bans “personal services.”

“When you start putting language in a bill, in the law, that makes it seem like you could be committing a misdemeanor or crime by participating in voter registration, education and outreach, then you’re going to start seeing a chilling effect on all sides,” Jones said. “And that’s the concern is that the bill is poorly written in that regard.”

Jones said the League of Women Voters of Alabama helps people with voter registration, absentee ballots, restoration of voting rights, and other services. She said those efforts rely to some extent on collaboration with local election officials, such as for accurate information. Jones said Allen’s bill could make local officials hesitant to assist with any such efforts because of concerns they might run afoul of the law.

Scott Douglas, executive director of Greater Birmingham Ministries, said Allen’s bill was intended to cause confusion and intimidation. Douglas was one of about a dozen speakers at a press conference today at the St. John AME Church in Montgomery.

“It’s intentionally obtuse, intentionally loose and typically vague,” Douglas said. “But its intention, its real goal, is making expanding the practice of democracy intentionally difficult and intentionally arbitrary. It’s about creating a chilling effect on voter participation and voter education.”

Allen said the bill is not aimed at efforts by private organizations to assist voters.

“If you’re not a secretary of state, if you’re not a probate judge, if you’re not an absentee election manager or board of registrar or a poll worker or a circuit clerk, this bill is not going to affect you at all,” Allen said. “So any private citizen, any private nonprofit that wants to go out and is interested in voter registration or voter outreach or voter education, this bill doesn’t affect them at all.”

Allen is running for secretary of state, the office that oversees state elections, in the May 24 primary. He is a former Pike County probate judge.

According to a report from NPR, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit based in Chicago, gave grants to more than 2,500 local governments to help pay for elections in 2020. That was after Zuckerberg donated $350 million to the nonprofit.

Seven Alabama counties got grants, according to the NPR report, which cited information from the Center for Tech and Civic Life: Bullock, Dallas, Hale, Jefferson, Macon, Montgomery, and Wilcox.

Among other organizations that took part in today’s press conference opposing Allen’s bill were the National Federation for the Blind Alabama, The Ordinary People Society, the ACLU of Alabama, and Alabama Arise.