Throughout his tenure as Alabama Secretary of State, John Merrill has been frequently targeted by numerous progressive individuals and far-left advocacy organizations.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), liberal in-state media and prominent Democrats have repeatedly slammed Merrill and the election integrity measures supported by his office.
Most recently, Alabama’s chief elections official has been at the center of unsubstantiated claims perpetuated by Democratic Party U.S. Senate nominee Will Boyd.
Boyd, who faces Republican U.S. Senate nominee Katie Britt in the November 8 general election, alleged that “voter suppression” was a tactic being actively employed against Alabama’s minority population.
The progressive Democrat contends on his campaign website that “not all Alabamians are being treated equally” under the state’s system of voting.
Combating the unsupported claims, Merrill told Yellowhammer News earlier this week that 96% of all eligible black Alabamians were registered to vote.
Tuesday on social media, Boyd took exception to Yellowhammer News’ reporting of the candidate’s unfounded assertions and further attempted to allege that Merrill’s voter registration figures were inaccurate.
According to Boyd, a “discrepancy” exists between official Alabama Secretary of State Office statistics and U.S. Census Bureau figures regarding black voter registration.
A Yellowhammer News article implies my accusations regarding voter suppression are unfounded. The article fails to address the discrepancy between the # of eligible Black voters reported by AL & the same # reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. Voter suppression is real & must end! pic.twitter.com/C0UJ5mv4oN
— Dr. Will Boyd (@willboydforAL) July 12, 2022
In response, Merrill called Boyd’s allegations “disappointing” and advised that such accusations were made in an attempt to garner “attention to fledgling campaigns.”
“Disappointing when candidates or ignorant advocacy groups elect to include people who are not eligible to be registered voters in their percentages,” wrote Merrill in a tweet. “Unfortunately this is only done to try to draw attention to fledgling campaigns that will never gain traction.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
