Alabama Voting Rights Act Commission Established

Right now, if someone is found guilty of a serious crime, they lose their right to vote.  They have to ask to get their voting rights back after they finish their punishment, and they have to meet some special rules.

• This bill would allow people who finished their punishment for their crime  can get their voting rights back automatically, without having to ask.

Right now, people can only vote by mail if they meet some special rules.

• This bill would get rid of those special rules, so more people could vote by mail.  It would also make the rules for voting by mail clearer.

This bill would create a special group called the Alabama Voting Rights Commission. This group would be made up of different people who would work to make sure everyone has a fair chance to vote.

• The Commission would look at things that happen in Alabama that might make it harder for certain groups of people to vote.  They would also have to approve some things that the government does about elections.

This bill would also tell the Secretary of State (the person who is in charge of elections) to keep a list of all the voters in Alabama. This list would help make elections easier to run. 

The Secretary of State would also have to tell people about important information about voting through a database.

• This database would:

  • keep track of how many people live in each town and city in Alabama. 

  •  count how many people are old enough to vote and how many are citizens who can vote.

    • It does this by using information from the U.S. Census, which is like a big survey of everyone in the country.

  • Keep track of who won each election in Alabama.

  • Show the results for each town and city, and even for each voting district.

  • Have a list of everyone who is registered to vote in Alabama.

  • Show where each person lives and their voting history.

  • Have maps that show the boundaries of each voting district.

  • Show where all the polling places are located, so people know where to go to vote.

  • Show where people can drop off their mail-in ballots.

  • Have resources for people to use if they are treated unfairly while voting. 

• The database would be free and easy for people to use.