Steve Flowers: Wes Allen worthy and unique
Alabama’s 54th Secretary of State Wes Allen is doing a very good job in his first term as Secretary of State of the great State of Alabama. When he ran for this office, I said he was by far the best qualified person for this important post. This constitutional office is a real working position. It has a myriad of duties with dozens of employees to oversee. The primary reason that I knew he was the most qualified person was the fact that he had been the Probate Judge of Pike County for almost a decade. Although the Secretary of State wears several hats, the administering of elections is one of the more important duties and the highest profile of this job. I also knew Wes Allen to be a young man of integrity. I have known Wes most of his life. His dad is State Senator Gerald Allen, who has represented Tuscaloosa and surrounding counties for over 30 years. I was already in the House of Representatives when Gerald came to the House in the mid 1980’s. Gerald and I bonded. He gravitated to me because he knew that Senator Richard Shelby and I were friends. Gerald was and still is a great admirer and friend of our revered and retired U.S. Senator Shelby. Both Gerald Allen and Richard Shelby hail from Tuscaloosa. While we were in the House of Representatives, Gerald asked me several times to go to lunch with him in Tuscaloosa. He wanted me to meet his son of whom he was very proud. Finally, I journeyed to the Druid City where we ate at a famous meat and three restaurant on 15th Street. His son, Wes, joined us. Wes was everything Gerald said he was, very friendly and delightful. That was 35 years ago. Little did I know that Wes would one day sit in the same House seat that I was in when Wes and I first met, which is House District 89, representing Pike and Dale Counties. Wes was a student at the University of Alabama and a walk-on split end on Gene Stallings’ Alabama football team. Dabo Sweeney was Wes’ position coach. While Probate Judge of Pike County, Wes conducted more than a dozen elections without a single error. He was and still is a pillar of the Troy/Pike County Community. I have watched him be a Christian conservative leader in the First Baptist Church in Troy. He was at every one of his children’s ballgames and coached their teams most of the time. While Probate Judge he was chosen to be President of the Probate Judges Association. In 2018, he left the Probate office and was elected overwhelmingly to the legislature. He served successfully alongside his dad for four years. I do not think we have ever seen a father/son duo serve simultaneously in the legislature in state history. When Wes Allen was elected Secretary of State in 2022 and was sworn into office in January 2023, he set another unique precedent in state history. He became only the third person in Alabama history to serve in all three branches of State Constitutional Government – Judicial/Legislative and Executive – Judicial as Probate Judge, Legislative as a member of the House of Representatives 2018 to 2022, and now Executive as Secretary of State. Only two other men have accomplished this in Alabama government, George C. Wallace and John Purifoy. Governor George C. Wallace was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives from Barbour County in 1946 at age 26. He served one four-year term and then went back home to be a Circuit Judge. In 1962 he was elected to his first of five terms as Governor of Alabama. The only other man to do what Wes Allen and George Wallace had done was John Purifoy. John Purifoy had a prolific career in Alabama politics. He was a farmer from Wilcox County. He was born in 1842 and served in the Confederate Army. He was elected Probate Judge of Wilcox County in 1880, and later was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives. He was elected Secretary of State from the legislature, like Wes. He served as Secretary of State from 1915 to 1919. He was Alabama’s State Treasurer 1911 to 1915 and State Auditor from 1892 to 1896. Wes Allen is not only a worthy Secretary of State, he has a unique place in Alabama political history. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at steve@steveflowers.us.
Wes Allen says legal portion of redistricting process is not completed
On Thursday, the three-judge panel announced Alabama’s new congressional district map they selected for the state. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen responded to the three-judge panel’s selection of map number three. Map three partitions the Wiregrass, Mobile County, and even Mobile City. Map one, also partitioning Houston County, had been the most popular among the plaintiffs, while two was the least popular choice. The State of Alabama opposed all three of the maps. Allen and Attorney General Steve Marshall have vowed to continue to appeal. “The Office of the Secretary of State will facilitate the 2024 election cycle in accordance with the map the federal court has forced upon Alabama and ordered us to use,” said Allen. “It is important for all Alabamians to know that the legal portion of this process has not yet been completed. A full hearing on the redistricting issue will take place in the future, and I trust Attorney General Marshall to represent Alabama through that process. In the meantime, I will keep our state’s elections safe, secure, and transparent because that is what I was elected to do.” The three-judge panel ruled that the map passed in the July 2023 special session did not allow Alabama’s Black minority to select their own representative, thus violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The three-judge panel then appointed Richard Allen as a special master to draw new maps. The three maps all radically redrew the First and Second Congressional Districts. Republican incumbent Congressmen Jerry Carl and Barry Moore both now live in Congressional District One. Carl has announced that he will run for reelection. Moore, on the other hand, has said that he is going to wait before deciding on his future plans. The three-judge panel ordered that the maps be redrawn so that two of the seven congressional districts are majority-minority districts “or something close to it.” The Legislature refused to draw a map that complied with the court’s order, resulting in the court rejecting the state legislature’s map. The state has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court; however, both the three-judge panel and the Supreme Court have refused to stay the court-ordered redistricting while the state appeals the ruling of the lower court, citing their belief that the state is unlikely to prevail in its appeal. Thursday’s announcement brings clarity for voters and candidates. Democratic qualifying began last Friday, while Republican qualifying does not begin until October 16. The major party primary will be on March 5. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Three judge panel will rule on Alabama’s congressional districts soon
On Tuesday, the three-judge panel hearing the Alabama Congressional redistricting case listened to arguments for and against the three maps prepared by the special master, Richard Allen. The court held an 80-minute hearing at the federal courthouse in Birmingham on Tuesday. The three-judge panel includes U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, federal District Judge Anna Manasco, and federal District Judge Terry Moorer. Plaintiffs tended to prefer map 1, which divides Houston County and includes the City of Dothan into Congressional District 2. The Alabama Attorney General’s office has objected to this entire process and has vowed to defend the July 2023 redistricting map prepared by the state Legislature. The court previously rejected a motion by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to stay the proceeding while the State appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court has also rejected Marshall’s request for a stay. Incumbents Republican Congressmen Jerry Carl and Barry Moore both now live in the First Congressional District. All three maps divide Mobile County. In June, the three-judge panel ordered the Legislature to pass a new congressional redistricting map to include two majority-minority districts “or something close to it.” The Legislature refused and instead defied the court’s authority by passing their own map that kept White majorities in six of Alabama’s seven congressional districts. In August, the three-judge panel rejected the Legislature’s plan as having violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The court rejected the state’s map and appointed Allen to draw new maps. The federal courts have already ruled that the state’s 2021 congressional rezoning likely violated section two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Secretary of State Wes Allen has told the courts that the state needs to know which map is chosen due to the quickly approaching 2024 election cycle. Democratic candidate qualifying has already opened, and Republican candidate qualifying opens on October 16. The major party primaries will both be held on March 5. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Alabama voter registration climbs, but turnout lags rest of nation
by Ralph Chapoco, Alabama Reflector September 15, 2023 This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org. While Alabama has enjoyed record numbers in terms of people registering to vote, voter rights groups point to troubling signs despite those figures for voters gaining access to the ballot box to exercise their constitutional right as citizens. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen and his predecessor, John Merrill, have pointed to a 32% increase in voter registration in the last decade as a sign of greater interest in the process. But election turnout has lagged other states, even in presidential election years. More than 2.3 million Alabamians cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election. In terms of volume, that was a record, but it only represented 62% of Alabama voters casting votes, one of the lowest presidential turnouts in 30 years. “One of the things that we have seen, we are still seeing, is low turnout,” said Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama. “Presidential elections get high turnout, but in the elections at the local level, and during the midterms, you see pretty sad turnout. That is not good for democracy.” The reasons for the disparities have to do with culture, state laws that impede access to the ballot, and a lack of competitive elections. Allen and Merrill have turned to the public airwaves to claim credit for the number of active, and registered voters in Alabama. The state has steadily increased that number, going from about 2.8 million about a decade ago to roughly 3.3 million at the end of 2022. Through the end of August, the state’s voter rolls increased by an additional 30,000 people. Richard Fording, a professor of political science at the University of Alabama, said “the numbers aren’t bad.” But relatively few Alabamians exercise their right to vote, a continuation of a longstanding problem that has plagued the state for decades. According to data compiled by Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, only 37.3% of eligible voters turned out for the November 2022 elections, the fifth-worst in the United States. Mississippi, another southern state, fared the worst at 32.5%. Tennessee, West Virginia, and Indiana were the only other states with lower turnout than Alabama. The issue starts with the state’s history. “Alabama was classified as a state with a traditionalistic political culture,” Fording said. “That means a few different things, but with respect to the orientation of government participation, it is an elitist orientation.” That culture emerged from a backdrop of slavery, segregation, and disenfranchisement of large swathes of voters, mostly Blacks but also poor whites. Elites in the state maintained the status quo through literacy tests, poll taxes, and other discriminatory voting practices. Though those have been outlawed, their impact on the state’s political culture remains. “When there is a system that is the status quo, those who benefit from it want to rationalize that system, as being just,” Fording said. “And if they have the power to do that through various channels of socialization like the education system, then that is likely to become embedded somewhat permanently in the culture.” Several crosscurrents have taken shape that stem from that history that have served to depress voter turnout. “We have started out way behind,” Fording said. “And so, it is just harder to finish first when starting last.” Foregone conclusions The low turnout is not tied to a party. In the 2006 elections, when Democrats controlled the state Legislature, voter participation was 36%. Some demographic trends may play a role. Education tends to correlate with voter participation, and Alabama has a smaller percentage of college graduates than the nation as a whole. Party strength can also influence turnout. “In a large sense, there is not a lot of democracy because it is a foregone conclusion that most of the outcomes are going to be Republican,” said Thomas Shaw, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at the University of South Alabama. The state is solid red, with the Republicans holding the governor’s office, all statewide elected positions, and the state Legislature. Democrats, once the dominant party in the state, have held onto power in the Black Belt and the state’s cities. But the state has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, and Democrats have won only one statewide election (the 2017 special election for U.S. Senate) since 2010. That can depress turnout. It also makes candidate recruitment difficult. The Democrats’ statewide candidates in 2022 were mostly inexperienced and underfunded. That depressed turnout to the point that normally safe Democratic legislative districts saw closer-than-expected races. “The people they put on the ballot in 2022 were no-name nobodies who got some of the least amount of support in the entire history of Democratic politics in Alabama,” said David Hughes, an associate professor of political science at Auburn University Montgomery. The state party is embroiled in a fight over its bylaws and leadership. Leaders of the party voted in May to disband three diversity caucuses and adopt new bylaws, replacing a set adopted in 2019 amid a Democratic National Committee (DNC) investigation. The DNC is investigating the May meeting. “I don’t think anybody would look at the state Democratic Party and say that it is functional,” Hughes said. All of that weighs on turnout, said Shaw. “If it is a presidential election, and you are a Democrat in Alabama, you know there is no chance that your candidate is going to get elected in Alabama; how does that make you feel about going to the polls,” he said. “It makes you feel like, ‘Why should I bother?’” Ballot access Legislators in recent years have also taken to making voting more difficult. Alabama does not have early voting or no-excuse absentee voting. The
Federal court rejects Alabama’s request for a pause on congressional map ruling
On Monday, the State of Alabama suffered another major setback in its ongoing congressional redistricting map saga when the federal three-judge panel that is hearing Alabama’s congressional redistricting case denied the state’s request that the ruling be paused to give the state time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court – again. The federal three-judge panel wrote in their ruling on Monday, “It is exceptionally unusual for a litigant who has presented his arguments to the Supreme Court once already — and lost — to assert that he is now ‘overwhelmingly likely’ to prevail on those same arguments in that Court in this case.” The three-judge panel ruled that the state likely violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when it passed a congressional redistricting plan in 2021 that created six majority-white and just one majority-Black Congressional District. The court ordered the state to suspend the 2022 congressional elections and submit a compliant map. The state refused and instead appealed to the Supreme Court. The high court upheld the three-judge panel’s order allowing the 2022 election to proceed with the 2021 maps. In June, the Supreme Court ruled in Allen v. Milligan that the three-judge panel was right in their 2022 preliminary ruling and remanded the case back to them in a controversial 5 to 4 ruling against the state of Alabama. After the state’s rebuke by the Supreme Court, the three-judge panel ordered the state to prepare a map with two majority-minority districts “or something close to it.” The Alabama State Legislature met in a July special session. Instead of complying with the court order, the Republican-dominated Legislature passed a new map that increased the Second Congressional District from 30% Black voting age population to 39.9%. The Republicans in the Senate claimed that their ‘Livingston 3’ map kept communities of interest together and was as compact as possible. They argued that this was as close to fulfilling the court’s order. Never mind that the Republican-dominated House of Representatives had passed a map by Representative Chris Pringle (R-Mobile) with a 43.3% Black 2nd District. When the Pringle plan arrived in the Senate, State Senator Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro) simply substituted it for his Livingston 3 map. The state adopted the Livingston 3 map. Livingston and Pringle are the joint co-chairs of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Reapportionment. The Legislature’s Democrats and the civil rights groups suing the state asked the three-judge panel to reject the partisan Livingston 3 map. The three-judge panel complied, ruling that it (like the 2021 redistricting map) violated the Voting Rights Act. The court has appointed a special master to draw Alabama’s new congressional districts map. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen (R), on the advice of Attorney General Steve Marshall (R), appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Monday’s setback by the three-judge panel means that the court-appointed special master will continue redrawing the state’s seven congressional districts to create that second majority Black District. That map, which nobody has seen yet, will likely be the map the state will use to vote next year. The special master is supposed to be finished with his new map by September 25. The state is still asking the Supreme Court to intervene, but there is no guarantee that the Court will even hear this case. If it does agree to listen to the case, it is unknown if the Justices will allow the 2024 election to proceed with the Legislature’s Livingston 3 map or if they will allow the election to proceed with the new special master map. Democrats hope to use the Allen v. Milligan ruling to force states to create new majority-minority districts. The major party primaries are on March 5. The Alabama Democratic Party told Alabama Today Monday that candidate qualifying for Democrats will open on September 29. The Alabama Republican Party announced during the day that GOP candidate qualifying will not begin until October 16. Both parties are closing qualifying on November 10. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Alabama will challenge decision in redistricting case
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office announced in a statement late on Tuesday that the state will appeal Tuesday’s ruling by the federal three-judge panel rejecting the Alabama Legislature’s latest congressional redistricting map. Marshall’s office said, “While we are disappointed in (Tuesday’s) decision, we strongly believe that the legislature’s map complies with the Voting Rights Act and the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.’ In filed papers with the Court, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen disclosed an intent to appeal the three-judge panel decision. The Legislature passed a new congressional redistricting map in a July special session. In June, the state was ordered to create a map with two majority-minority districts or something close to it by the three-judge panel. The Republican supermajority of the Alabama Legislature ignored the instructions of the court order and instead just increased the percentage of Black Voters in Alabama’s Second Congressional District from 30% to 39.9% and called it an “opportunity district.” The three-judge panel wrote that that partisan new map still violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and ordered a court-appointed special master to draw Alabama’s new congressional district lines. “We are deeply troubled that the state enacted a map that the state readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires,” the Judges wrote in their order on Tuesday. The state disagrees and will appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Legislators close to the redistricting told Alabama Today that appealing this case to the Supreme Court was always the plan and that they expected the three-judge panel would find against the state’s map. Marshall himself, in recent remarks to the Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee in Montgomery, expressed skepticism that the three-judge panel would find in favor of the state but that the state would appeal. The same three-judge panel ruled in 2022 that Alabama’s 2021 congressional redistricting map also violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the state Legislature to draw a new map. Instead, the state defied the Court by refusing to draw a new map. The state appealed then to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court initially stayed the three-judge panel order of a new map and allowed the 2022 congressional elections to proceed under the 2021 map. The Supreme Court, however, eventually ruled in June in favor of the civil rights groups suing the state and upheld the three-judge panel’s 2022 preliminary ruling that the state had likely violated the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme ruled 5 to 4 that the 2021 congressional redistricting map likely does violate the Voting Rights Act and referred the case back to the three-judge panel. The majority decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and supported by the three liberal justices. Brett Kavanaugh was the deciding vote. The state is staking its case on Kavanaugh reversing himself and instead finding in favor of the State of Alabama when the state makes its case before the Court for a second time. The Supreme Court is under no obligation to even hear this case. Also at issue is whether the 2024 congressional elections will use the July map drawn by the Legislature or the new map that the three-judge panel ordered on Tuesday for a special master to draw. The special master won’t be finished with that new map until September 25. The state has said it needs to have a map in place by October 1, as major party qualifying for the election will begin next month. If the Court agrees to hear the state’s appeal, it will take months for the legal process, and the major party primaries are set for March 5. At this point, no one in the State of Alabama knows with any certainty which congressional district they live in moving forward. The state contends it cannot draw a map with two majority-minority districts that is suitably compact and doesn’t divide communities of interest. The state has argued that dividing Mobile County or putting Mobile and Baldwin Counties (the two Alabama Gulf Coast counties) in separate congressional districts is unreasonable. They also say that the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama should not be divided. The civil rights groups suing the state argue that these concerns are secondary to the Voting Rights Act. They demand that communities of color be allowed to pick their own congressional representation. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Marshall applauds court victory in vulnerable child protection and compassion act
On Monday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall issued a statement applauding a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to vacate a preliminary injunction that had been entered by a district court last year in Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall. The federal appeals court decision will soon enable the state to enforce the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which prohibits administering sex-modification procedures to minors. “The Eleventh Circuit reinforced that the State has the authority to safeguard the physical and psychological wellbeing of minors, even if the United States Attorney General and radical interest groups disapprove,” said AG Marshall. “Alabama takes this responsibility seriously by forbidding doctors from prescribing minors sex-modification procedures that have permanent and often irreversible effects. This is a significant victory for our country, for children, and for common sense.” Alabama’s Vulnerable Child Protection and Compassion Act was sponsored by State Senator Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville) and then State Representative Wes Allen (R-Troy) – Allen was elected Secretary of State last year. Marshall has defended this and similar laws to protect children from sterilizing medical interventions. Marshall says that these procedures are being pushed by medical interest groups that are driven by the pursuit of profit and radical ideology. In August, Marshall led a multistate brief in Missouri highlighting what he calls the dishonesty of advocacy groups like the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Similarly, in July, General Marshall filed a brief on behalf of 21 states in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals supporting Tennessee’s and Kentucky’s laws protecting minors from chemical and surgical sex-modification procedures for kids. The Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act was signed into law in April 2022. On May 13, 2022, the federal district court issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the law from being enforced. Monday’s ruling lifts that preliminary injunction. The case will still proceed through the federal court system. Advocates for these controversial procedures vow to continue their court fight. In lifting the injunction, the judges wrote that states have “a compelling interest in protecting children from drugs, particularly those for which there is uncertainty regarding benefits, recent surges in use, and irreversible effects.” Steve Marshall was appointed Alabama Attorney General in 2017. He was elected in his own right in 2018 and then re-elected for his second full term in 2022. Before he served as AG, Marshall was the district attorney for Marshall County. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Wes Allen addresses the Republican Women of Trussville
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen spoke on Thursday to the Republican Women of Trussville (RWOT) at the Trussville Civic Center. Allen said that he was sworn in as Alabama’s Secretary of State in January and that both of his two children are now in college. “It has been a big year,” Allen said. “We have got both kids out of the house. It is an adjustment when the kids move out.” “I was born and raised in Tuscaloosa County at the end of a dirt road,” Allen said. From 2018 to 2022, Allen represented Pike County in the Alabama House of Representatives. The group applauded him for sponsoring legislation forbidding doctors from performing gender-altering procedures and treatments on children. “I introduced the House legislation, but the man in the back of the room, (State Senator) Shay Shelnutt, was the man in the Senate,” Allen said. “It took us three years to get it passed.” Shelnutt said, “It should not have taken that long.” “Those procedures, no matter what they tell you, is not reversible,” Allen continued. “It is tied up in federal court,” Allen said. “We will see how that progresses.” RWOT President Terri LaPoint praised the group for their door-knocking to help elect Mike Bolin to the Jefferson County Commission in a recent special election, thus maintaining a 3 to 2 Republican control of the Commission. “Mile Bolin’s win – that was a huge race,” Allen said. “Door knocking makes a big difference. “The best thing we can do is elect conservative people at the local level,” Allen said. “Mike Bolin – it is important to elect conservatives at the county commission level, at the city council level, at the school board level. We have seen how important it is to have conservatives on the library board. Prior to his service in the legislature, Allen was the Probate Judge of Pike County. Allen said his experience as a probate judge helped prepare him to be Secretary of State. “They are our customers,” Allen said of persons coming to their office. “We may not have the government service they want, but they are looking for help. It is our duty as public officials to help them with their problem.” Sometimes the people who came to the Pike County Probate Judge’s office were not in the right office. “Whether or not we could help their problem, we wanted to get them to the right place,” Allen explained. “I take that philosophy with me to the Secretary of State’s office.” “The Secretary of State’s office has 40 employees,” Allen explained. “35 are merit-based. They are here from administration to administration. We have some that are political appointees – the executive staff: Chief of staff, legal counsel, deputy legal counsel, director of legislative affairs, that sort of things.” “We have had a lot of speaking requests,” Allen said. His focus has been on doing the job and “getting things done” in his first six months on the job. “We are now moving around a little more. It is a pleasure to be here.” Allen said that his office recently became aware of a scam using the name of the Alabama Secretary of State’s office. “We are working closely with the Securities Exchange Commission to make sure they don’t get any kind of money, no matter how small,” Allen said. Allen said that he does not court attention and just does his job. “I shouldn’t be running over people to get in front of a camera,” Allen said. Allen said it is important for him to get out into communities and explained that he schedules two or three meetings in towns that he visits to get the pulse of that community. “We want to make sure that we are not so connected in Montgomery that we forget what is happening in Trussville or what is happening in Moulton,” Allen said. “We are fighting fraud in the election side as well,” Allen said. “As a former probate judge, I know what it is like to be at the courthouse at 5:30 on election day, and I know what it is to be the last person to walk out of the courthouse and lock the doors.” “There will be a lot of eyeballs on these secretary of states offices next year,” Allen said. “We are already making preparation for 2024.” “We had illegal immigrants who were stealing IDs in North Alabama,” Allen said. “They were even voting in local elections.” “We removed a board of registrar for registering people who did not live at the location where she registered them,” Allen said. “We removed her. We are not a prosecuting agency, so we turned it over to the local DA in Houston County.” “It all starts in the Board of Registrars offices,” Allen said. “They do a wonderful job, but we had this one person we needed to remove.” “The more I learned about ERIC and studied it, it was really a data mining operation,” Allen said of his controversial decision to withdraw from the ERIC system for managing the voter rolls. “It has been like eight states that have followed our lead,” Allen said. “I cannot talk about the Alabama whole plan that we are putting out yet, but I think you will be proud of what we come up with.” Allen said that in his legislative agenda, “We wanted to solidify our election process.” “It doesn’t take Alabama weeks to count ballots like you have seen across the country,” Allen said. “With the help of Shay Shelnutt, we are always going to have a paper ballot to vote on even after I am gone. Matt Simpson carried it in the house.” “You will always vote on paper ballots in Alabama,” Allen said. “A great piece of legislation. It is common sense.” Allen said that Sen. Clyde Chamblis and Simpson carried his legislation “to make sure that our tabulators cannot be connected to the internet.” The legislature also passed his legislation for a poll worker pay increase. That bill was carried by Rep. James Lomax and Sen. Sam Givhan. “We have partnered with the Alabama State Bar so that
Wes Allen and Alabama Bar Association partner to implement new MCLE opportunity for Alabama attorneys
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen and the Alabama Bar Association announced on Tuesday that they have partnered to implement a new mandatory continuing legal education (“MCLE”) opportunity available to Alabama attorneys. This new program is titled “Lawyers for Liberty.” Sec. Allen announced the new MCLE at the annual meeting of the Alabama Bar Association on July 13. “I appreciate the partnership with the Alabama Bar Association as we work to recruit poll workers,” Sec. Allen said. “As a former probate judge, I know firsthand how vital poll workers are to election administration. They work hard and love their communities. Poll workers are indispensable for keeping our elections safe, secure, and transparent.” Alabama attorneys must complete at least 12 hours of approved MCLE every year. The Lawyers for Liberty program allows attorneys to attend poll worker training and serve as poll workers for 4 hours of MCLE credit. Lawyers for Liberty requires that participating attorneys attend poll worker training administered by the county probate judge before the election, serve as a poll worker for no less than 8 hours on election day at a polling location designated by the county probate judge, and submit the necessary form to the Alabama Bar Association. Attorneys interested in participating in the Lawyers for Liberty program can find more information on the Election Information page of the SOS website here. The state has difficulty obtaining poll workers to conduct elections. Next year is the presidential election – usually the busiest election year of the four in the election cycle. Wes Allen was elected Secretary of State in 2022. Prior to that, he had represented Troy in the Alabama House of Representatives and served as the Pike County Probate Judge. The new President of the Alabama Bar is Brandon Buck. The Birmingham attorney was installed as the new President of the Alabama Bar at the same July 15 meeting. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Robert Aderholt cosponsors American Confidence in Elections Act
On Wednesday, Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL04) announced that he had signed on as an original cosponsor of the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE Act). “Proud to join my colleagues as an original cosponsor of the American Confidence in Elections Act,” Aderholt said on Twitter. “We are taking the necessary steps towards securing elections, cracking down on states that allow noncitizens to vote, and improving voting access for our service members overseas.” The legislation was introduced by Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin). The American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act is reportedly the most conservative election integrity bill to be seriously considered in the House in over 20 years. The comprehensive bill includes nearly 50 standalone bills sponsored by members of the House Republican Conference. The sponsors say that the ACE Act equips states with election integrity tools, implements key reforms in D.C., and protects political speech. “The ACE Act is a conservative, federalist approach to boost voter confidence and encourage more states to implement commonsense election integrity reforms,” Rep. Steil wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner. “The Committee on House Administration has oversight jurisdiction over federal elections. As chairman, I’m committed to upholding the Constitution by ensuring states maintain primary control over administering elections — not the federal government.” “The ACE Act has three main pillars: equipping states with election integrity tools, implementing election integrity reforms in Washington, D.C., and protecting political speech and donor privacy.” Steil continued. “The primary section of the bill is focused on providing states with tools to improve voter confidence. We will remove outdated policies that stand in their way and provide access to information held only by federal agencies.” Steil wrote that states should have access to the Social Security death list to maintain their voter rolls. “Another safeguard states can implement to improve voter confidence is requiring photo ID.” The ACE Act would also prohibit federal funds from going to places that allow noncitizens to vote and stop noncitizens from voting in Washington, D.C. It would also prohibit the District of Columbia from mailing out ballots and require the District to finally implement photo ID. The ACE Act would prohibit federal agencies like the IRS from asking for nonprofit organizations’ donor lists and bring greater transparency and accountability into the federal campaign finance system. In addition to Rep. Aderholt, there are over 100 original House cosponsors of the ACE Act. House Republicans held a press conference on Wednesday to announce the introduction of the legislation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said that the ACE Act would “ensure that elections across America will be fair and that people who are legally eligible to vote can actually cast that ballot and that people who aren’t legally eligible to vote can’t undermine the vote of everyone else, because when someone illegally votes they take away the vote from a legally voting American.” “The idea that you have to show a picture ID to vote is common sense to Americans. In fact, polling indicates that about 80% of Americans support the idea that you require an ID to vote, including by the way a strong majority of Democrats support showing ID.” Scalise said. “Let’s go strengthen the sanctity of the vote. Don’t go mail ballots to people who have been off the rolls for years, that died or moved out of state. We have seen that. It is well documented. This bill that Chairman Steil and members of the committee have brought forward is an important step in the right direction to cleaning up our elections and ensuring that everybody who is entitled to vote can get that vote and that people who aren’t eligible can’t deny that vote. Let’s make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. This bill achieves that. I strongly support it and hope to bring it t the House floor.” Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen joined House Republicans in D.C. for that press conference. Allen also spoke with Congressman Jerry Carl (R-AL01) about the importance of election integrity during his visit to Washington. “I sat down with Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen to talk about everything Alabama is doing to ensure election integrity in upcoming elections. He is doing an incredible job!” Rep. Carl said on Twitter. Given the partisan divide over election integrity legislation, it is unlikely that the Senate Democrats will advance this legislation even if House Republicans are able to pass it out of the House. A signature from President Joe Biden is also unlikely ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Aderholt is in his 14th term representing Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Sec. of State Wes Allen and Alabama Securities Commission warn businesses of fraudulent mailers
On Tuesday, the Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) and Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen issued a warning to business owners about a fraudulent mailer. This mailer is official-looking and claims to be from the Secretary of State’s office. The mailer falsely claims that the business needs to pay $90 dollars, or more, for a copy of a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) statement filed against them. Amanda Senn is the Director of the Alabama Securities Commission. “Alabama business owners should toss mailers from third-party companies that say they will work with the SOS office on your behalf in the trash,” said ASC Director Senn. Secretary of State Allen said, “These organizations are not affiliated with or authorized by the SOS office in any way. They are charging excessive amounts for something you likely will never need and, if you do, can easily acquire.” UCC filings reflect liens placed on certain personal property, such as equipment, accounts receivable, etc. that generally cannot be titled or deeded, like automobiles, aircraft, boats, and real estate. The primary purpose of a UCC is to perfect the secured interest of the secured party in personal property collateral. The UCC financing statement is a form that a creditor files to give notice that it has an interest in the personal property of a debtor. A bank, not an entrepreneur, typically files the statement. Filing a UCC statement costs $20 for the first two pages and two dollars for every page thereafter. Individuals looking to file the statement can go directly to the SOS website. The ASC cautions investors to research any investment opportunity thoroughly. Call the ASC at 1-800-222-1253 to report suspected fraud, inappropriate securities business practices, or to obtain consumer information. Free investor education and fraud prevention materials are available at www.asc.alabama.gov. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Paul DeMarco: Alabama Legislature should tackle election reform in upcoming reapportionment special session
So it appears that lawmakers will be called back to the Alabama statehouse on July 17th to draw new U.S. Congressional districts as required by a recent ruling of the United States Supreme Court. The court ruled that Alabama should establish two districts where a minority could be elected to represent the state in Congress; as of now, there is one. The first priority for Alabama State Representatives and Senators in July will be to pass a new map. However, when legislators are back in Montgomery to debate and approve the new districts, there will also be time to take up another important election issue as well. This past session, a bill sponsored by Representative Jamie Kiel that would have banned ballot harvesting died on the last day legislators met this past Spring. The new law would have made it illegal to pay or be paid for the collection of absentee ballots delivered to polling places. The legislation had passed the Alabama House of Representatives overwhelmingly and a Senate Committee; thus, it was in a position to win approval from the full Senate but never made it to the calendar. There is no question that if it were up for a vote, the supermajority of Republican Senators would have sent the bill to the Governor to sign. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen supported the legislation and cited the multiple convictions for fraud related to absentee ballots over the past decade as one of the impetus for the need of this new law. With Democrats in a position to possibly pick up a second Congressional seat in Alabama in 2024, there will be hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in the state’s general election. Republicans hold a slim majority in the United States House of Representatives. Thus the eyes of the Nation will be watching this general election in Alabama. Thus, you can count on major money being sent by national political action committees to the state for get-out-the-vote efforts, as we saw in the 2020 elections. Governor Kay Ivey and lawmakers should agree that the integrity of Alabama elections is essential and cleaning up the absentee ballot process must be a priority. Hopefully, we will see this legislation considered along with the new Congressional maps to be drawn in the upcoming special session. Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on Twitter @Paul_DeMarco.
