Opinion | Alabama lawmakers fear the increased scrutiny of more voting options

They set records for early voting in Georgia. More records fell in Louisiana and North Carolina. 

In Pennsylvania and other states, mail-in ballots and no-excuse absentee ballots (basically the same thing) are being returned in record numbers. 

The Republican nominee for president praised the voter turnout so far. The Democratic nominee for president praised the voter turnout so far. Both encouraged their supporters to get out to the polls and make their voices heard. 

Alabama would like you to be quiet. 

That’s right, there is no vote-by-mail option in Alabama. There is no early voting in Alabama. We do have an absentee ballot option, but you must provide an acceptable reason for requesting the absentee ballot in order to get approval. 

There is no legitimate reason for this, other than the folks in charge in this state are perfectly happy with the status quo. And also happy making it as hard as possible for people to cast a ballot. 

That’s why we lack even the most basic conveniences to the process. And instead, like some throwback to the 1950s, we’re still trotting people on a specific day – regardless of weather, regardless of circumstances – and allowing a single opportunity for them to participate in their representative government. 

It’s a farce. 

You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. 

There’s absolutely no reason that Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and all the other states – 47 have early voting or mail-in voting or both – can manage to pull this off, but we can’t. 

There’s no viable excuse for it, either. Elections officials used to lean heavily into the idea that more options would invite fraud, would essentially ensure it. But they don’t. And we just had a 2020 election that proved it. Despite tens of millions of ballots cast by mail, thanks to the pandemic, there was no increase in fraud, and a multitude of investigations – almost all of which were conducted by Republicans – found zero evidence of fraud in any of the voting systems and procedures. Hell, even Alabama implemented no-excuse absentee ballots, and the Secretary of State’s office confirmed afterward no reports or instances of fraud as a result of the option.

So, no, there’s no impediment to Alabama implementing more voting options, other than the folks in charge are perfectly happy with the way things are – with a whole bunch of people getting locked out of the polls. 

Because we all know who’s getting locked out: Working people. 

Study after study has shown that the single most cited issue that prevents people from voting on Election Day is work responsibilities. CEOs and executives have no trouble finding the time. The wealthy and retired find no obstacles. 

But the working folks, they’ve got an 8-hour day and all the rest of life that gets in the way. Some days, you can’t fit in a full lunch, much less an hour-long trip to your voting precinct. 

And you shouldn’t have to. 

There’s no reason we can’t do this. Hell, it’s not like our Secretary of State is so covered up his office couldn’t manage a few extra days of voting or mail-in ballots. He’s got so little to do that he was spending his time the last few months making up phony voter scandals to tackle. 

Thankfully, even a Trump-appointed federal judge saw through that farce and last week ordered Wes Allen and his office to restore the more than 3,000 voters to the rolls. That was after Allen essentially admitted that he had no proof that any of those voters he purged were in any way ineligible to vote. Instead, they had just once allegedly held a non-citizen ID number, and that was enough for him. 

It was ludicrous. 

But then, it certainly fits with the pattern in this state of making it as absolutely hard as possible for the average citizen to cast a ballot. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. 

Your last day to register to vote shouldn’t be today – two full weeks prior to an election. There’s nothing that the Secretary of State’s office has to do that requires that amount of time. In fact, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to register at the polls on the same day you cast a ballot. 

And there’s no reason casting that ballot should be limited to a single Tuesday. It’s absurdly dumb and discriminatory. 

Refusing to implement more options only creates impediments, which have no offsetting correlation to reduced fraud or more election security. You’re limiting the number of people who can participate in their government. You’re reducing the size of the voting pool. 

And there’s only one reason that happens: More participation means more people paying attention to their government and the people who are running it. More people paying attention means our state lawmakers have to work harder and their scams and pandering aren’t nearly as effective. 

And that’s what they’re afraid of.