Supreme Court grants Alabama’s request to restore voting restrictions

WASHINGTON >> By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a trial judge’s order that would have made it easier for voters in three Alabama counties to use absentee ballots in this month’s primary runoff election.

The court’s brief, unsigned order gave no reasons, which is typical when it rules on emergency applications, and it said the order would remain in effect while appeals moved forward.

The court’s four more liberal members — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — said they would have rejected Alabama’s request.

In March, Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, postponed the election in light of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the official who oversees the state’s elections, John Merrill, Alabama’s secretary of state, a Republican, expanded the availability of absentee ballots to all voters who concluded that it was “impossible or unreasonable to vote at their voting place.”

But Merrill did not relax two of the usual requirements for absentee voting: submission of a copy of a photo ID with a voter’s application for a ballot and submission of an affidavit signed by a notary public or two adult witnesses with the ballot itself.

Four voters and several groups sued to challenge those restrictions, saying they placed an unlawful burden on the right to vote in light of the health crisis. Making a copy of a piece of identification, for instance, may be difficult and dangerous during the pandemic, they said.

Alabama officials have dismissed that concern. Writing on Twitter, Merrill said: “When I come to your house and show you how to use your printer I can also show you how to tie your shoes and to tie your tie. I could also go with you to Walmart or Kinko’s and make sure that you know how to get a copy of your ID made while you’re buying cigarettes or alcohol.”

Judge Abdul Kallon, of the U.S. District Court in Birmingham, blocked election officials in Mobile, Jefferson and Lee counties from enforcing the ID requirement for voters who are disabled or 65 or older. He also blocked the notary or witness requirement for voters who submit a sworn statement that they are at heightened medical risk.

Kallon also allowed — but did not require — officials to employ curbside voting.

A unanimous threejudge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Atlanta, refused to block Kallon’s decision while an appeal moved forward.