On Monday, Yellowhammer News reported an effort by the Alabama New South Coalition, which offered churches $6 per person for utilizing Alabama’s absentee ballot process and voting before October 29 in this year’s presidential election.
“Anybody that vote [sic] early before October 29th your church will get $6.00 per person,” an advertisement published in the October 14 edition of the Choctaw Sun stated. “We will verify if they have registered and checks will be dispersed after October 29th.”
During an interview with Mobile, AL’s FM Talk 106.5, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, the state’s chief election official, said that although this was not a “best practice,” it was not illegal. He also pointed to the offer not being specific to a church with a specific type of congregation.
“There is no illegal activity associated with what’s been presented,” he said on Monday’s “The Jeff Poor Show.” “It was brought to my attention the day it first came out in the Choctaw Sun by the sheriff, Scott Lolley. He sent it to me, asking me what my thoughts were. We looked at it, had our legal counsel look at it, and realized there’s nothing that’s been presented there that’s illegal, immoral or unethical. It’s certainly not a best practice or something that should be encouraged. But the way the ad was presented, it didn’t say that individuals would be paid, which would be illegal.”
“It also did not advocate for a particular party or a particular position on an amendment. It just simply said you vote, then your church will get x number of dollars per member for your members that participated,” Merrill continued. “I thought that was interesting because it didn’t say ‘white churches’ or ‘black churches’ or ‘Korean churches’ or whatever. And so, it will be interesting to see what the response is because if there are some people who want to take advantage of that that may not be the intended audience, and the response is not what it should be, I think they’ll be some interesting activities that occur after that.”
Merrill acknowledged this behavior was not unprecedented. However, he said the advertising of such an effort was “flagrant” in the eyes of many.
“We believe that it has always gone on,” Merrill said. “There’s always been reports of it. And what we don’t know is how rampant it has been or how it’s been conducted. This was in some people’s minds very flagrant because they say that people have always been paid. Well, we are going to find out how this particular situation has been working. And then we’re going to make sure if it is working the way it has been presented in the paper — that everybody who wanted to be a part of it were able to be a part of it, regardless of race, creed, color or religious association.”
He likened this situation to tactics used on college campuses to encourage participation in student government elections.
“Obviously, it is not a best practice because it is associating some level of compensation with someone completing their civic duty and responsibility,” he added. “But it is also an incentive, which is not unlike what we’ve seen other people do at different times. I know in the past, there have campuses that have said, ‘Look, for everybody that voted in the student election today, come to this particular bar tonight — get a free beer.’ You just have to show on your activity card that you participated in the election — not that you voted for a particular candidate but that you participated. Those things are never fully endorsed by the administrative authorities. But as long as they’re not breaking the law, it is really just a matter of opinion about whether or not it needs to be done or not. But it as certainly as I said before — it’s not a best practice.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
