Alabama Defends Restrictions on Absentee Voter Aid at 11th Cir.

Attorneys for Alabama on Tuesday tried to convince the Eleventh Circuit that paid caregivers aren’t subject to criminal liability under a state law regulating who can help voters with disabilities fill out absentee ballot applications.

“But does it really?” Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum, of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, questioned. “It seems to me that under the express language” of Alabama’s S.B. 1, paid caregivers “are on the hook” for “up to 20 years in prison and up to a $30,000 fine” if they receive payment for helping clients fill out their ballots. And because the ...