Alabama lawmakers have moved forward with a bill that would make it a felony for people to help someone fill out an absentee ballot.

HB209, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, passed out of the a House elections committee Wednesday with a vote of 9-3. The bill would make it a Class C felony for people to distribute, order, request, collect, complete, obtain, or deliver an absentee ballot or application on behalf of another person, with a few exceptions. It would also make it a Class B felony to pay a third party to assist.

Debate grew heated in the small committee room. Many people spilled into the hallway outside.

Percy Garrett, a veteran from Dothan, is blind. He told lawmakers this bill would make it nearly impossible for him to cast a vote.

“It is almost impossible for me to fill out the ballot alone. It takes someone sighted to help me do that,” Garrett said.

Garrett said he is committed to voting and spends $56 on Uber each time he needs to go to the polls. He also pays someone to help him with regular tasks, including voting.

“If they were to be criminalized for doing that, then I think I’d have to stop voting,” Garrett said.

Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson, who is a veteran, said she often helps other veterans during election season. She said that it’s “only in Alabama that you will ever see something so foolish.”

“If you think this is just going to hurt us, you’re sadly mistaken,” Tyson said. “So make sure when you’re digging a grave for us that you don’t slip up in it.”

Read more: Alabama legislators expect medical marijuana products by end of 2023.

Read more: Alabama considers ending some driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fees.

Other people who opposed the bill said it would violate the rights of people with disabilities.

Nationally, about half of people who vote with disabilities vote by mail, experts say. Alabama offers some accommodations for voters who want to temporarily or permanently vote by mail.

Some lawmakers also argued that it would disenfranchise Black voters.

“The bottom line is that my colleagues fear the power of the Black vote, and they fear because they feel that we have an advantage when it comes to absentee voting in the state of Alabama,” said Rep. Juandalynn Givan, a Democrat from Birmingham.

The bill would still allow some people to assist someone with an absentee ballot if they are a family member, a designated election official or someone appointed by probate court as a guardian or conservator.

Rep. Kenyatté Hassell, D-Montgomery, asked Kiel why the criminal charges for violating the bill would be so severe.

“Do you understand manslaughter is a Class C felony? And you want to charge people Class C felonies we’re trying to do a civic duty? That’s ridiculous,” Hassell said.

He also asked Kiel what type of voter fraud he was trying to avoid.

Kiel said he was trying to prevent “undue influence on the person who is voting.”

Rep. Adline Clark, a Democrat from Mobile, proposed an amendment that would include employees or volunteers for 501(c)3 organizations to assist with absentee ballots. Her amendment did not pass.

Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, proposed an amendment that would add the word “prefilling” to the bill when listing prohibited actions. The amendment was added.

Now, the bill will head to the House floor for a vote.

Community advocates, including the Montgomery Metro NAACP, held a news conference after the hearing, where they said the passage of Kiel’s bill would violate both the Voting Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If the bill is signed in to law, opponents say they plan to protest it in court.