SB24 requires the state to post instructions for formerly incarcerated individuals seeking ballot access and publicly notify individuals who’ve had their rights restored.
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The Alabama House passed legislation recently, seeking to streamline the voting rights restoration process for individuals released from incarceration.
Senate Bill 24, sponsored by Senator Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, would require the Board of Pardons and Paroles to post “easily accessible” instructions for individuals seeking to have their voting rights restored. The bill would also require the board to notify the Alabama secretary of state with a list of individuals who have had their voting rights restored.
Current Alabama law holds that individuals may lose their right to vote for certain felony convictions in state or federal courts. They may have their voting rights restored by the Board of Pardons and Paroles if they have completed their sentence, including probation or parole, paid their court fines in full and do not have any additional pending felony charges.
Certain felony convictions bar an individual from voting rights restoration.
The bill would require the Board of Pardons and Paroles to begin publishing in March 2027 a list of individuals who’ve had their voting rights restored and the county in which they reside. The board must submit the list to the Office of the Alabama Secretary of State which must publish the list publicly on its official website.
Representative Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, and Representative Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, both expressed their gratitude to Coleman-Madison, alongside Representative Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, who spoke before the House in favor of SB24.
“I can’t tell you how many people in the community ask—they don’t know what the process is. They don’t know if their voting rights have been restored,” Ensler said. “So, this just helps make it more transparent and will help so many people with their fundamental constitutional rights. So, thank you. This is such a good bill. I’m really grateful you’re bringing it.”
An amendment, brought by Clarke, was adopted to mandate that an individual who has qualified to have their voting rights restored be identified on the secretary of state website by their Alabama Institutional Serial number instead of their legal name. AIS identification numbers are six-digit numbers granted to all incarcerated individuals in the state.
“There were some concerns about protecting the privacy of people whose names would be on the website,” Clarke said of the amendment.
SB24 has received endorsements from the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, alongside Alabama Arise.
Messages were left on Wednesday afternoon requesting comment on SB24 from Coleman-Madison and Hall.
The House voted 78-3 in favor of SB24. The legislation will advance to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for consideration if the Senate votes to adopt Clarke’s amendment.