By Patrick Darrington, Alabama Political Reporter and Democrat additions

On Tuesday, the Alabama Senate approved two bills, one that would criminalize certain forms of assistance during the absentee ballot voting process; and second one restricts diversity, equity and inclusion at state supported institutions. The bills will now move to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk to be signed into law.
The absentee ballot legislation, SB1, passed along party lines on a 24-5 vote. Bill sponsor Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, has said the reasoning for the legislation is to prevent ballot harvesting and ensure election integrity. However, Democrats have argued the bill is a voter suppression tactic that is based on minute or zero evidence.
The legislation makes it a Class C felony for a third party to knowingly receive a payment or gift for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, prefilling, obtaining or delivering a voter’s absentee ballot application.
Also, the bill provides that an individual will face a Class B felony if they knowingly pay or provide a gift to a third party to distribute, order, request, collect, prefill, complete, obtain, or deliver a voter’s absentee ballot application.
Jerome Dees, Alabama policy director for the SPLC Action Fund said the bill was one of the most egregious voter restriction bills since the Civil Rights era.
“Weeks after memorializing the brave Alabamians who were viciously assaulted while marching to guarantee the foundational right to vote, the Alabama Legislature has passed one of the most egregious voter restriction bills since the Civil Rights era,” Dees said. “This cruel legislation aims to criminalize the charitable acts of good Samaritans across the state, whether from neighbors, church members, nursing home staffers, or prison chaplains.”
Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said the bill was merely “voter suppression” and that the issue of ballot harvesting was non-existent.
The bill makes concessions for individuals with a disability or those experiencing a medical emergency if they need assistance. However, while Republicans will argue this is a step to protect against voter fraud Democrats and voter advocacy organizations argue it will scare people from voting absentee.
In Greene County, where there have been investigations of absentee balloting and people have gone to Federal prison for helping people to apply for and cast absentee ballots, this legislation will further suppress the use of absentee ballots, said a representative of the Alabama New South Coalition (ANSC).
The Greene County ANSC which has had volunteers to help homebound and other voters, who wished to vote absentee, to secure and vote absentee ballots, says this will restrict their efforts to assist the most needy voters and reduce turnout in a rural county, where it is difficult for elderly and disabled voters to secure transportation to the polls on election day.
An ANSC spokesperson said, “We have in the past provided stamps to help people mail back their absentee ballots. We are not sure this legislation will allow us to continue to assist voters in this way.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Another bill seeking to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Alabama passed the state legislature Tuesday and moves to Gov.Kay Ivey’s desk to sign into law.
The bill, SB129, specifically targets public schools, higher institutions of learning, and state agencies to prohibit DEI programs on campuses, the teaching of “divisive concepts” as defined in the bill and includes a provision to force transgender people to use the bathroom that does not align with their gender identity.
The legislation stipulates that schools and agencies cannot sponsor any DEI programs or require their students or employees to participate in them. It also states that they cannot punish students or employees for their “refusal to support, believe, endorse, embrace, confess, or otherwise assent to a divisive concept or diversity statement.”
The bill passed along party lines as the Republican supermajority continues pushing through legislation they have deemed top priority.
Civil rights groups have condemned the bill, saying it furthers the chilling effect classrooms have experienced in recent years as they become the site of culture wars across the country.

In a statement in late February, free-speech advocacy group PEN America called the legislation “the most pernicious educational gag order impacting higher education.”
The organization compared the bill to Florida’s “Stop Woke Act,” which restricts how workplaces, public schools and universities could teach diversity and inclusion until it was blocked in court. Alabama’s bill, PEN America said, is “even more restrictive.”
The bill states that it does not prevent students and faculty at public schools from hosting DEI programs as long as state funds are not used to sponsor them. But it also includes a stipulation that state agencies and public institutions cannot use a grant or federal or private funding “for the purpose of compelling assent to any divisive concept.” The legislation adds that it does not prohibit teaching curriculum “in a historically accurate context.”
The Alabama bill is the latest in a wave of conservative legislation that aims to restrict education on race, sex and gender and which kicked into high gear during the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic set off a wave of discontent among parents — and later politicians — nationwide, first over school closures and safety measures such as masking, but later over how public K-12 schools and universities are teaching about race, racism, history, sexuality and gender identity.

Since 2021, close to 90 laws have been enacted across the country which limit or wholly forbid instruction on these issues at both the K-12 and university levels, a Washington Post analysis found. The laws were overwhelmingly adopted in red states. The first wave of such legislation focused more on issues of race instruction on K-12 campuses, and subsequently on how teachers can discuss gender identity and sexual orientation, but the latest round has been more squarely centered on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, trainings and even classes on college campuses.

A spokesperson for the University of Alabama System — the largest public higher education system in the state — did not directly say whether its schools would cut DEI programming if the law goes into effect, but said it would “determine what actions are needed to ensure we can continue to fulfill our multifaceted missions and equip all campus community members for success at our universities and beyond in compliance with applicable law.”