Several bills related to voting have been pre-filed with the Alabama Legislature for the 2025 legislative session. The common theme around these bills is that all of their supporters describe them as bills designed to increase voting access in Alabama, which, at 58.5%, is among the states with the lowest voter turnout. 

The broadest of the bills prefiled so far is SB7, which was filed by Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, in mid-August. SB-7 would allow for the automatic restoration of voting rights for some individuals, remove the requirements for absentee voting, establish the Alabama Voting Rights Commission and require the Alabama Secretary of State to maintain a database full of information pertaining to elections. 

If a resident is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, then they lose their right to vote. This includes a broad selection of crimes, including, but not limited to, murder, robbery, manslaughter, rape, forgery and drug trafficking. Currently, select crimes allow for the restoration of voting rights, but those convicted must make a request to the Board of Pardons and Paroles to have their rights restored after they have finished their sentence or finished their parole. SB7 would remove the requirement that they make a request and would automatically restore voting rights once the sentence was completed. 

Additionally, it would change current law so that the only crimes of moral turpitude that would permanently remove voting rights are treason or impeachment. 

Alabama also currently only allows for absentee voting in select circumstances, which SB7 would change so that all registered voters are eligible to submit absentee ballots. 

Besides SB7, HB64 and HB59 would make changes to how voting currently functions in Alabama. 

Currently, Alabama is one of three states that does not allow access to early voting or requires that a reason be stated to vote early. HB59, which was filed by Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, would change current election laws to “require  each county to provide at least one early voting center to be open during the week immediately preceding election day.” The locations would need to be open for at least four days, but no more than six. 

HB64, which was filed by Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, would make election day a state holiday, so that state officials would all have the day off. This would only apply to presidential and gubernatorial elections, so the holiday would be every two years. 

Supporters of these bills have argued that recent laws, such as SB1, which was passed during the previous legislative session — though portions of it have been blocked by a federal judge — have discouraged voting in Alabama. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, has argued otherwise, stating that there has been no impact on Alabama voter turnout due to new laws or policies. 

Alabama top stories in brief

Bill would make police dashboard and body camera footage public record

• A new bill filed by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, SB24, would make all footage recorded on police officers’ body cameras or on their car dashboards public record. 

• Coleman filed this same bill last legislative session, and described the decision as a result of the death of Jawan Dallas, who died after being tased during an altercation with members of the Mobile Police Department. 

• Dallas’s family filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Mobile, and repeatedly asked for the footage from the body cameras to be released to the public.

• The footage was never released to the public, though the family was allowed to view it following a grand jury’s decision not to indict officers involved in the incident. 

Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences set to open in 2026

• The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, located in Demopolis, will be a public residential 9th through 12th grade school meant to prepare students for careers in public health, and is on schedule to begin operations in 2026.

• Shortages in rural healthcare providers are consistent across Alabama, and the new school hopes to give future students access to healthcare-focused coursework and experiences to prepare them to fill jobs in the healthcare field.

• The dorm is set to house 400 students, and curriculum development is underway to hopefully recruit current middle schoolers across Alabama to attend the school.

• $26 million of funding will be provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies — former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s philanthropy group.

Homeless camp across from Railroad Park removed by city of Birmingham

• A homeless encampment that had long resided in and outside of a warehouse across the street from Railroad Park in Birmingham was cleared on Dec. 4.

• People who resided in the camp reportedly left voluntarily after being asked to leave the property.

• The director of communications for Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Rick Journey, said, “The nuisance has expanded from a public space to private property. In order to expedite the clearing, the city received permission from the property owner to fully clear the area surrounding the sidewalk.”

New bill proposed to block drag performances in schools and libraries

• HB67, proposed and led by House Majority Leader Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, would ban drag performances at public libraries or K-12 schools, specifically “sponsoring drag performances in the presence of a minor without the consent of the minor’s parent or legal guardian.”

• The bill also states that state entities cannot allow minors to co-use facilities, such as sleeping and changing areas, with the opposite sex without parental consent.

• Concern for the points regarding drag shows in the bill are reportedly backed by a storytime reading event at a public library in Mobile in which the reader was a drag queen, an event that was attended by hundreds of people. Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollingers Island, said, “It’s essentially grooming young children and over sexualization and exposing them to things they don’t need to be exposed to.”

• Concern for the points regarding the co-use of facilities was reportedly sparked by complaints about the presence of a transgender employee at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center’s Space Camp in Huntsville.

• Threats were made against the employee in question, despite statements from Space Camp that no staff were allowed to be alone with campers behind closed doors. 

Alabama approves contract to help combat EBT theft

• On Dec. 5, the state legislature’s Contract Review Committee approved a $6 million contract for the Department of Human Resources to dedicate towards a comprehensive fraud mitigation initiative. 

• According to Jennifer Bush, a DHR attorney, the fraud is largely perpetrated by scammers who are stealing benefits from rightful recipients through scams such as card skimming, cloning and phishing.

• The benefits provided by EBT are funded by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and nearly 800,000 Alabamians receive food assistance through SNAP funds. 

• “So far in the month of November, we’ve paid out almost $5 million now in replacement benefits,” Bush told the committee. “We’ve processed over 13,000 claims where it’s stolen.”

Announcements:

• Due to the holidays, both The Breathing Room and The Longleaf Hiker will have slightly different schedules this month. The Breathing Room will come out on Dec. 18 and The Longleaf Hiker will be published on Dec. 20. 

• There will be no Alabama Roundup on Dec. 30. 

Roundup changes

Thank you to everyone who has provided us with feedback on the Roundup newsletter! We are still in the process of looking through all of the feedback you gave, so there might be a few tweaks in the coming weeks, but for now, we’ll be sticking with the layout from this week as our regular format.

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