John Merrill: Response to Representative Wes Allen on ERIC Membership
In his recent electronic posting, Representative Wes Allen (R-Troy) falsely claimed that the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) is a “Soros-funded, leftist group.” Both assertions are patently false, and they show a lack of understanding about how the elections process works in our state. First and foremost, ERIC was not founded nor funded by George Soros, and to claim otherwise is either dishonest or misinformed. ERIC was founded by the original seven-member states: Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, Utah, Virginia, and Washington with the assistance of Pew Charitable Trusts. Also, ERIC’s operating costs are funded completely by annual dues paid by member states, not by George Soros. In 2015, the legislature passed Act 2015-459, which authorized “the Secretary of State to enter into agreements to share information with other states in order to maintain the statewide voter registration database.” I asked a freshman legislator with great promise to carry this bill for our office, and it was his first piece of meaningful legislation. That freshman legislator was Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth. In 2016, Alabama was certified to join ERIC. Also, it is important to note that currently, ERIC is the only organization capable of providing the necessary data for proper voter list maintenance. In Alabama, ERIC is used to preserve a clean and accurate voter list and to contact eligible residents who are not registered voters. Each month, we provide ERIC with a voters list and driver’s license data, and we receive information from ERIC for voter list maintenance in return. Monthly, our office receives a list of voter records that potentially need to be removed or inactivated based on deceased records from the Social Security Administration, potential duplicate voter records in Alabama, or voters that have potentially moved out of the state. Since joining the program in 2016, ERIC has identified more than 19,000 voter records of potentially deceased Alabama voters that died in this state or another ERIC member state. 98% of those voter records are no longer on the Alabama voter rolls. ERIC identified more than 222,000 voter records of potential cross-state movers from voter lists and driver’s license information obtained from other ERIC member states. 90% of those identified voter records are either no longer on the Alabama voter rolls or have been placed on a path to be removed in accordance with federal law. ERIC identified more than 24,000 voter records of potential duplicate registered voters in which an Alabama voter had duplicate records with potential inaccurate data. ERIC helped us match these voter records, and 95% of those duplicate records are no longer on the Alabama voter rolls. Annually, our office receives a list of individuals that have received a driver’s license or non-driver’s identification card and are not registered voters. Once a year, we reach out to all eligible individuals via a postcard that contains information on how to register to vote. Every two years, with data from ERIC, we perform a voter participation review to determine whether individuals potentially voted more than once in Alabama or voted once in Alabama and once in another state for the same election. These election security measures would not be possible without our partnership with ERIC. Our office does not have direct access to other states’ voter databases or driver’s license records. ERIC does. Our office does not have the authority or capability to securely store other states’ information. ERIC does. Our office does not have the certification and license requirement to access the Social Security Administration Death Master Index. ERIC does. Finally, neither the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency nor our office have the ability to compare driver’s license records for our state with other states for the purpose of voter list maintenance. ERIC does. ERIC has helped us to remove more than 1,350,000 ineligible voters from the rolls in the last six years. If elected as Secretary of State, how would Representative Wes Allen ensure that voters who have moved or have passed away are purged from our voters’ list without the necessary data that ERIC provides? By leaving ERIC for cheap political points, Representative Allen could undermine the election security measures that have made Alabama the gold standard for election integrity throughout the nation. Another flagrant mischaracterization by Representative Allen is the assertion that Alabamians’ information is transmitted to nefarious actors. This could not be further from the truth. ERIC’s membership agreement strictly prohibits them from selling, sharing, or disclosing Alabama’s data to any person, party, organization, or group. Also, the data is protected under the Federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), and the data is not public record. Representative Allen has been rather quick to demand that Alabama end its relationship with ERIC. Hopefully, he will also be timely in outlining how he would end our relationship with ERIC while simultaneously maintaining election security without access to the necessary data, legal authority, or capability to conduct proper voter list maintenance. The State of Alabama could spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on a recurring annual basis and still not be able to provide the same level of services. While I am still Secretary of State, we will always choose election integrity, security, accountability, and transparency, along with sound and responsible financial decision-making over scoring cheap political points and to continue to ensure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. Let’s hope whomever the voters of Alabama elect to succeed me will do the same. John Merrill is currently serving as Alabama’s 53rd secretary of state.
Shane Stringer & John R. Lott, Jr.: Constitutional carry gun rights legislation in Alabama
Gun-control advocates keep making the same predictions of doom and bloodshed from law-abiding citizens having guns for protection. They warn us of pending disaster if Alabama becomes the 22nd state to adopt so-called constitutional carry rules that would allow law-abiding adults who legally own a handgun to conceal-carry it without a permit. Thirty-four states already allow open carry without a permit. Alabama and other states faced the same predictions of disaster when they first adopted right-to-carry laws, which now exist in 43 states. None of the dire predictions came true. These predictions are occurring again when states adopted Constitutional carry. But not a single one of these states has seen the need to reverse the laws. Indeed, none have even held a legislative hearing on undoing these laws, let alone a vote. Much will remain unchanged with Constitutional carry. Businesses and private property owners still have the right to exclude guns from their premises. Prohibitions remain in sensitive places, and laws about gun misuse are unchanged. Alabamians must still be able to legally own a gun to carry it. The most significant change from constitutional carry is how quickly people can carry a gun if needed. Right now, it takes about a month for Alabama to issue a concealed handgun permit after someone has met the requirements. If a woman is being stalked or threatened, the harm from that threat may have already occurred well before a month is up. To make matters worse, during the coronavirus outbreak, getting permits was delayed up to three months. Under Constitutional carry, that woman won’t have to wait for a license. And Constitutional carry will save Alabamians the cost of obtaining a license, which runs $100 for five years. These costs matter; just compare the numbers in neighboring states, Illinois and Indiana. In Illinois, the total cost of getting a five-year permit is $450; there is no license fee in Indiana. While only 4% of Illinoisans have a concealed handgun permit, 22% of adults in Indiana already have one, the second-highest number of permits per capita. More importantly, the people who benefit the most from carrying are the most likely victims of violent crime, overwhelmingly poor blacks who live in high-crime urban areas. They are also the most sensitive to the fees required to get a permit. In Illinois, wealthy white males who live in the suburbs are overwhelmingly the ones who get permits. In Indiana, people living in urban, heavily minority zip codes get many more permits. Some opposition to Constitutional Carry is ironic. While some of the same people oppose even free voter IDs as imposing too much of a burden, they have no problem with people paying over $100 to have the right to defend themselves and their families. They demand same-day registration for voting, saying people can’t plan ahead, but they have no problem making people wait weeks to get a carry permit. One concern involves the bill’s potential financial impact; Alabama could lose the money it collects through permit fees. But in practice, states that adopt constitutional carry have seen very little change in the number of permits. People still get permits to travel with their guns to states without constitutional carry. Gun control advocates claimed there would be blood in the streets when then-Gov. Guy Hunt signed Alabama’s concealed carry law in 1990. That didn’t happen. The fact that several dozen peer-reviewed academic studies show there’s no evidence of any uptick in gun crimes linked to concealed carry laws, and most show violent crime declines. Research also shows that murder rates fall even more when states move to Constitutional Carry laws. When PoliceOne asked its 450,000 law enforcement members about the effects of private gun ownership, 76% of officers answered that legally armed citizens are either very or extremely important in reducing crime. Today, there are over 21.5 million concealed handgun permit holders nationwide. Permit holders nationwide are incredibly law-abiding. Police officers are extremely rarely convicted of firearms-related violations, but it still happens at a rate twelve times more often than for permit holders. In the 19 states with comprehensive permit revocation data, the average revocation rate is one-tenth of one percent. Usually, permit revocations occur because someone moved or died or forgot to bring their permit while carrying. Gun control advocates keep trying to take advantage of people’s fears of the unknown and claim that bad things will happen when people are allowed to defend themselves and their families. But Alabamians don’t have to guess what will happen with Constitutional carry. Twenty-one states are proof that Constitutional carry is common sense. Shane Stringer is a state representative for District 102 and is the sponsor of the state’s Concealed Carry bill. John Lott is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center.
Alabama Department of Public Health launches new COVID-19 information website and media campaign
The Alabama Department of Public Health announced a new multimedia campaign called “Alabama Unites Against COVID.” The campaign aims to stress the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine. The new website, alabamaunites.com helps users locate vaccination and testing sites, updated guidance, frequently asked questions, vaccine information, and what to expect when testing for COVID-19. The campaign highlights messages about how people should help each other in their communities in the fight against the virus. In addition to advertisements in print publications, four television commercials are airing on stations statewide and on social media. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris released a statement about the new website. He emphasized the need for Alabamians to have access to the correct information regarding vaccines and Covid-19. “Regrettably, some Alabamians live in “information bubbles” that promote and sustain vaccine hesitancy. The Alabama Unites website sends the visitor to links which disseminate clear, complete, and accurate messages about COVID-19 vaccines and encourage them to get tested when they experience symptoms. Resources provide answers to frequently asked questions on vaccine benefits, effectiveness, safety, possible side effects, and availability. Information about what is known and what is unknown is provided.,” Harris wrote. “This campaign demonstrates in an emotionally powerful way how important it is that we stand together. When more people get vaccinated and tested, we are encouraged, because the fight is not over yet. It is still critical that Alabamians protect themselves and others by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Anyone who has symptoms of the virus, should get tested as soon as possible. By doing these things, we can greatly reduce the effects of COVID-19.”
J. Pepper Bryars: School system’s diversity programs created by group that believes only whites can be racists
Socrates is believed to have once said, “The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.” Most people, including the editors of the Merriam-Webster, Oxford, and American Heritage dictionaries, would generally define racism as the belief that one race is superior to another and anything that oppresses or elevates people based on their race. But not the organization that has provided diversity training and programs to teachers and students in the Huntsville City Schools system. The Anti-Defamation League, a once noble organization that has since fallen into partisan decay, had a contract with Huntsville City Schools to deliver anti-bias training to its teachers last year after having already provided its “No Place for Hate” program to the system’s students for more than a decade, according to records. Visit adl.org/racism, and you’ll see the extreme way the organization defines the term: “Racism: The marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.” Ironically, that definition is itself a good example of racism — assigning to one group of people exclusive ownership of a vile trait based solely on the color of their skin. But if that’s too complicated for your second grader to understand, the Anti-Defamation League has an “elementary school version” of the definition: “The disrespect, harm, and mistreatment of people of color based on made-up ideas that white people deserve to be in charge and treated better.” Records of the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education meeting on December 17, 2020, show a contract with the Anti-Defamation League to provide three training sessions in early 2021 from its “World of Difference Institute” program, as part of the system’s overall cultural diversity training effort. “We do have a long-standing relationship with the Anti-Defamation League. This is the organization that sponsors our ‘No Place for Hate’ activities,” a system official said when describing the organization to the board. She added that it’s “a very important partnership that we want to maintain.” Officials later told me that the system has been using the “No Place For Hate” program free-of-charge for more than a decade, though it “is not a curriculum.” “Schools use it as a way to promote a bullying-free environment in the school,” the official explained. Diversity training is a good thing, in principle. We could all learn to treat one another better, with dignity and courtesy, regardless of how we may look or speak or where we came from or how we worship. But how can an organization that defines racism as a characteristic exclusively held by one group of people be the right provider of that training, or programs and content of any kind covering diversity, cultural awareness, or anti-bias to teachers and students? Clearly, they cannot. The specific problem here remains quite clear to me: schools feel a need to provide diversity training to teachers and students, yet the groups who have affordable, off-the-shelf solutions tend to be very political in nature, deeply invested in identity politics, and locked into a far-left view of the issue. It’s reasonable to suspect that their personal political perspectives will seep into whatever training and programs they provide. Part of the lasting solution should clearly be to avoid partnering with organizations that have overt political agendas. School systems, especially those the size of Huntsville City Schools, should create and implement their own, home-grown diversity training programs, created by the experienced educators they have in-house, and reflective of the community in which they serve. History needs to be taught, unvarnished. Current events should be discussed, openly. People should learn to treat one another with the courtesy and dignity everyone deserves. But starting from the definition that one group of Americans, today, is in the right and the other in the wrong is remarkably counterproductive. And it should stop. J. Pepper Bryars is a conservative opinion writer from Mobile who lives in Hunstville. Readers can find him at https://jpepper.substack.com.
Sen. Richard Shelby and Rep. Jerry Carl applaud Airbus-Lockheed announcement
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby and Congressman Jerry Carl praised the announcement regarding Airbus and Lockheed Martin’s partnership to build the LMXT tanker for the United States Air Force. Airbus 330s would be built in Mobile and converted into tankers in Marietta, Georgia. According to Shelby’s press release, the A330ceo (current engine option) Final Assembly Line will involve the construction of a new $400 million facility located at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley with more than 300 direct employees. The Request for Proposal (RFP) for the competition is expected in 2023, with the projection that the Air Force will award the contract in 2024. “I commend Airbus and Lockheed Martin for continuing to recognize Alabama’s commitment to excellence in manufacturing and engineering. Across the state, our workforce produces world-class products that serve to strengthen national security and maintain military readiness. The LMXT is yet another opportunity to demonstrate our staunch devotion to the warfighter. Alabama knows aerospace, and I trust Airbus and Lockheed to harness the talent Mobile has to offer to deliver the product our Air Force deserves,” stated Senator Shelby. The LMXT is an Air Force-unique platform, building on the proven airframe of the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) tanker that serves 13 nations today. The tanker aircraft is proven and capable and has been refueling U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft in combat since 2015. “I applaud Airbus and Lockheed Martin for choosing Mobile to produce an aircraft that is already known to be a proven solution for the Air Force. I’m proud my colleagues in the Alabama delegation and I were able to work together and get this project moving so Alabama can continue supporting the defense needs of the United States,” Carl stated. “Alabama has always been at the forefront when it comes to the aerospace industry and providing for our national defense, and thanks to the partnership between Airbus and Lockheed Martin, Alabamians will have the opportunity to provide an Alabama-built aircraft for all Americans,” Carl concluded. “Establishing this production work in Alabama and Georgia confirms Lockheed Martin’s commitment that the LMXT will be built in America, by Americans, for Americans,” stated Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and CEO James Taiclet. “The LMXT will strengthen global security by enabling our U.S. service members to carry out their most critical missions at extended ranges.
Lloyd Austin to governors: Guard troops must get COVID-19 vaccine
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in letters to seven governors, is reaffirming the need for members of their states’ Army and Air National Guards to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine or lose their Guard status. In nearly identical letters signed late last week, Austin tells the governors that the virus “takes our service members out of the fight, temporarily or permanently, and jeopardizes our ability to meet mission requirements,” according to copies obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The letters, which have not been publicly released, come as the military services begin to ramp up the number of active-duty troops being discharged for refusing the vaccine. Nearly 600 Marines, airmen, and sailors have been thrown out of the military or dismissed from entry-level training at boot camps as of last week. Two of the letters — to Alaska and Texas state leaders — note that they have an ongoing lawsuit over the vaccine and that, Austin said, limited his ability to comment further on their concerns. Texas, Oklahoma, and Alaska filed lawsuits challenging the military’s vaccine mandate, but a federal judge has already rejected the Oklahoma challenge. The Alaska governor was one of five Republican state leaders who sent a letter to Austin asking him not to enforce the mandate on National Guard troops. The other four were governors from Wyoming, Mississippi, Iowa, and Nebraska. The latest letters were to those five governors along with Idaho and Texas. Austin’s response to them mirrors the letter he sent in late November to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, defending the department’s vaccine mandate as necessary to maintain military readiness and the health of the force. At the time, he warned that failure to get the vaccine “may lead to a prohibition on the member’s participation in drills and training” and could “jeopardize the member’s status in the National Guard.” In the new letters, Austin changed a keyword in that sentence, telling the governors that failure to get the vaccine “will” lead to prohibiting members from participating in drills and jeopardize their status. “To ensure that we maintain a healthy and ready military force capable of accomplishing our mission to defend this Nation and to protect the American people, vaccination against COVID-19 is an essential military readiness requirement for all components and units of the military,” including the Guard, he said. The governors getting the letters were: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, all Republicans. Alaska joined the lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Texas has more than 20,000 National Guard members, the largest contingent of any state. About 40% of its Army National Guard are currently refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination “for either religious accommodation needs or otherwise,” according to the lawsuit filed in a federal court in East Texas. It added that more than 200 airmen in the Texas Guard are also refusing the vaccine. The deadline for Air Guard members to get the shots has passed, but Army Guard members have until this June. Thousands of members of the active-duty military and the reserves are seeking medical, administrative, or religious exemptions or refusing the shots. But overall, the percentage of troops, particularly active duty members, who quickly got the vaccine is high – with at least 97% in each service getting at least one shot as of last week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 87% of the U.S. population age 18 or older has gotten at least one shot. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
COVID-19 hospitalizations decline 5% across Alabama
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has decreased about 5% in Alabama since last week, a potential sign of improvement in the fight against the pandemic. Statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health showed 2,805 people were being treated for the illness on Monday, down from 2,961 last Tuesday. Hospitalizations increase or decrease daily, and some hospitals are still struggling with an influx of illness, patients in intensive care on ventilators, and staff shortages. But the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 dropped to a still-high 36% after exceeding 40% for nearly four weeks straight. “Things are not getting worse,” said Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association. The entire state remains in the danger zone with high levels of community transmission, yet the improvement has some health officials hopeful amid a wave of illness linked to the highly-contagious omicron variant and Alabama’s low vaccination rate. About 49% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, and 33% have had booster doses, according to federal statistics. Moore than 17,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the state, giving Alabama that nation’s fourth-highest death rate from the illness. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by 14,114.5, or about 127%. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
