Last week, the State House Constitution, Campaigns, and Elections Committee held a hearing on a proposal from State Rep. Laura Hall (D-Huntsville) to allow no-excuse absentee voting in Alabama.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, the state’s top election official, endorsed the bill, and it is expected to get a vote in committee next week.
During an interview with Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5 on Friday, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville), an outspoken critic of the way elections were conducted during the 2020 election, urged members of the legislature to oppose Hall’s effort.
“[I]n some states you’re seeing progress,” he said. “But for some reason in Alabama — we just had a hearing on a bill in the House of Representatives in committee that would take us in the exact opposite direction of where we want to go. The biggest problem with voter fraud seems to be centered on mail-in voting. And there was legislation pushed by Laura Hall of Huntsville, a Democrat, that would increase mail-in voting on the absentee level.”
“They call it no-excuse absentee voting,” Brooks continued. “Well, the reason it is called absentee voting is because, for circumstances beyond your control, you’re going to be absent for Election Day and can’t make it to the polls. You might have a disability that prevents it. You might be sick, that prevents it. You might be out of state that prevents it. But no-excuse absentee voting is a misnomer because absentee is not what you are when you ask for a ballot just because you want one and you want it early. There are lots of problems associated with that system that was pointed out in the Jimmy Carter-James Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform report that was issued in 2005.”
“I am not going to go into it — but that is not the way to go if you want to have honest and accurate elections,” he added. “Hopefully, the Alabama Legislature will beat back that effort when they have their committee vote later on this week.”
@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.
