Pre-filed bill would allow Alabamians with disabilities to receive absentee ballot help
An Alabama lawmaker has pre-filed a bill for the 2026 legislative session that would allow a voter with a disability to have assistance with filling out an absentee ballot.
HB 45, sponsored by Rep. Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, would require the Secretary of State to change the absentee ballot application to allow another person to submit the disabled voter’s ballot. On existing absentee ballots, only the voter can submit the ballot except in the case of “medical emergency absentee applications.”
“I’ve had constituents complain to me about not being able to hand deliver an absentee ballot application on behalf of a loved one or a neighbor,” Clarke said in an interview. “ I do believe that state law allows for us to be good Samaritans and to help the disabled with the entire absentee voting process.”
In 2024, Senate Pro Tempore Garlan Gudger, R-Culman, passed SB 1, which prohibited any payment for assistance in absentee ballot applications or to “knowingly” provide an absentee ballot with pre-filled information. A group of five non-profit, non-partisan organizations filed a lawsuit against the state, saying that Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act preempts the law.
https://alabamareflector.com/2025/12/29/pre-filed-bill-would-allow-alabamians-with-disabilities-to-receive-absentee-ballot-help/