Back in October, a group called the Alabama New South Coalition advertised an offer to pastors of money in exchange for getting church parishioners to vote early via absentee ballot.
Subsequently, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, the state’s chief election official, called it not a “best practice,” but said such an effort by the Alabama New South Coalition was not illegal.
State Rep. Jamie Kiel (R-Russellville) wants to make the practice illegal. During an interview with Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5, Kiel discussed his prefiled legislation prohibiting the practice.
“That just doesn’t feel right,” he said. “My first question was, why is anyone paying anyone to vote? I know there seems to be a loophole where you can’t pay the person directly to vote, but you can pay their church for you to vote. I just don’t think that anybody should profit from voting at all. And so, that was the beginning of this legislation.”
“They’re paying potential voters — they’re not paying them directly, but they’re paying a church for them to vote,” Kiel continued. “It just doesn’t seem right. It is a loophole that I hope to close. I think there’s potential for fraud, to be honest. We already know it is illegal to pay somebody to vote or pay somebody not to vote. If you’re going to spend money on people showing up at the polls, helping them vote — that’s great. But to pay a church or any organization for their members to vote individually, and to only pay them after those people have proven they have voted, and in this case not only vote but vote early. It wasn’t about voting. It was about them voting early. They had to vote by absentee, or they didn’t get the money.”
According to the Franklin County Republican lawmaker, the penalty would be civil and enforced by the secretary of state.
“It will become a civil issue if it happens,” Kiel added. “The secretary of state, of course, will enforce the law, and it will close that loophole. The bottom line is it doesn’t matter if it’s Republican or Democrat who is advocating for this kind of behavior. It’s just too close to being wrong, and obviously, the Secretary of State said it’s technically not illegal. And we want to make it illegal.”
@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.
