Update On Alabama
Another election-related order came down from the Supreme Court on Wednesday evening. By a 5-3 vote, with conservatives in the majority and liberals dissenting, the court blocked a district court judge’s ruling that kept Alabama state officials from preventing counties in the state from providing curbside voting, a measure designed specifically to help voters with disabilities or those at risk of catching COVID-19 who were uncomfortable waiting with other voters in an indoor space. A few counties had wanted to implement the measure, which would allow people to vote from their cars or hand their ballot to a poll worker at curbside. The district court’s order would have permitted (but not required) counties to provide the service over the objections of the state.
The Supreme Court didn’t explain its reasoning in siding with Alabama state officials. But the liberal justices did sign onto a dissent authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She wrote that the court didn’t have a good reason to stand in the way of counties trying to make voting easier for elderly or disabled people. “If those vulnerable voters wish to vote in person, they must wait inside, for as long as it takes, in a crowd of fellow voters whom Alabama does not require to wear face coverings,” she wrote. “The District Court’s modest injunction is a reasonable accommodation, given the short time before the election.”