Here are all the ways that Alabama tried to disenfranchise voters during Tuesday's special election. slate.com/articles/news_…
First, Alabama appears to have illegally booted a number of voters onto the "inactive" list for failing to respond to a state mailer, in likely violation of the National Voter Registration Act.
Alabama then required these "inactive" voters, many of whom voted last year, to fill out a lengthy form that required their "county of birth"—another likely NVRA violation.
The state also failed to teach poll workers how to deal with "inactive" voters. The correct procedure is to simply let them vote after identifying themselves. But some poll workers refused to give them a ballot.
Other poll workers illegally forced "inactive" voters to fill out a provisional ballot; these voters have until Friday at 5 p.m. to plead with the probate office to count their votes.
Police officers also staked out at least one polling place in a majority-black community and allegedly checked every voter's ID for outstanding warrants—a classic voter intimidation tactic. (When election monitors showed up, the officers promptly left.)
In another majority-black community, police officers staked out the turn lane into a polling place and pulled over every driver who made an illegal left turn. They spent nearly an hour writing a ticket for one woman who was on her way to vote.
Republican Secretary of State John Merrill also refused to prepare for high voter turnout despite multiple polls indicating widespread voter enthusiasm. Many polling places were understaffed—especially those in majority black communities.
One polling place literally ran out of ballots—the state simply hadn't provided enough. Others faced extraordinarily long lines and excessive wait times. Many had just 2 or 4 poll workers.
These problems disproportionately affected Democratic-leaning counties and majority-black precincts. It is a testament to the tenacity of Jones' supporters that they were able to elect him in spite of this state-sanctioned chicanery.
