Alabama Petitions SCOTUS To Reinstate Law Requiring Notarized Affidavits To Accompany Absentee Ballots

Roll Call reports:

Alabama officials asked the Supreme Court to step into the debate over how to conduct election laws in the midst of a national health crisis, in a legal dispute over absentee ballot requirements in three of the state’s largest counties.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill filed an application to the high court Monday to overturn a lower court’s injunction that found that the requirements could violate the constitutional right to vote for some elderly and disabled voters during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At issue in Alabama are two requirements that the state officials say combat voter fraud. Voters must submit a copy of their photo ID with their absentee ballot application, and absentee ballots must contain a voter affidavit that is either notarized or signed by two witnesses.

Merrill last appeared on JMG when he attempted to flame Twitter critics over the above law, which would require voters to have access to a computer or photocopier, and a printer. He told one man that if he’s too stupid to figure it out, he should probably plan on “voting in person.” Prior to that, Merrill was mentioned here during his failed Senate bid when he blamed mass shootings on the media. Before that, he appeared here when he blamed “homosexual activities” for the dearth of wholesome family entertainment like Gunsmoke, which went off the air 45 years ago. When asked for an example of those homosexual activities, he cited women’s soccer.