More people convicted of felonies in Alabama will be automatically disqualified from voting under a new law that expanded the list of crimes defined in Alabama as those involving moral turpitude.

The main purpose of HB100, by Rep. Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, was to provide enhanced penalties for crimes committed against poll workers and other election officials.

The bill came in response to the rise in threats to poll workers and election officials since the 2020 presidential election. Examples include threats to officials in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and other states.

Eighteen other states have enacted laws since 2020 specifically addressing protections for election officials and poll workers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In addition to the enhanced penalties, HB100 defined crimes against election officials as crimes of moral turpitude, a designation that means those convicted are disqualified from voting in Alabama.

“Individuals who commit one of the crimes of moral turpitude listed in the Felony Voter Disqualification Act will lose their right to vote,” Clarke said in a statement. “It stands to reason that if someone commits a serious crime against an election official, thereby interfering with the election process, that person ought to lose their own voting rights.”

But before passing the bill, lawmakers amended it to define six more felonies as crimes of moral turpitude, plus four categories of felonies for “inchoate” crimes, such as attempted crimes and conspiracies.

Rep. Jim Hill, R-Moody, proposed the amendment to add to the list of moral turpitude crimes. Hill said the office of Secretary of State Wes Allen asked him to sponsor the amendment, and he supported the idea.

Clarke did not oppose Hill’s amendment on the House floor. The House approved the amendment without a dissenting vote and then approved the bill 95-0. The Senate approved it 31-0 and Gov. Kay Ivey signed it into law.

The law will take effect Nov. 6, one day after the general election, according to the secretary of state’s office. That’s because of a constitutional amendment Alabama voters approved in 2022 that says laws affecting elections cannot change within six months of an election.

The new felonies considered crimes of moral turpitude include three categories of domestic violence crimes, compelling gang membership, aggravated stalking, and elder abuse.

“I agreed to accept the floor amendment primarily because it makes domestic violence a crime of moral turpitude,” Clarke said. “I feel strongly that anyone who commits a felony of domestic violence should lose their right to vote until they have served their time.”

Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama, said it is disappointing to see the Legislature expand disenfranchisement of people convicted of felonies. Jones acknowledged that the crimes on the list are serious but said disqualification is a relic of segregation era schemes to keep Blacks off the voting rolls.

“The list of crimes that are listed here, they are hard-core crimes,” Jones said. “But when you’ve got someone that has paid their debt, they’ve served their time, there really should be no linkage between voting and the crimes that are committed. This is all basically a legacy of the Jim Crow era that we have this law at all.”

Alabama has a long history of disenfranchising voters for crimes of moral turpitude, going back to the Alabama Constitution of 1901, which was intended to keep Blacks and poor whites from voting. The law applied to both misdemeanors and felonies. There was no definition for moral turpitude. That gave county boards of registrars, political appointees, discretion over which people convicted of crimes could be disqualified from voting.

In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Alabama’s disenfranchisement of voters for misdemeanors. Alabama voters approved a new constitutional amendment in 1996 disqualifying voters who committed felonies involving moral turpitude, but still without a definition for the term.

In 2017, after a federal lawsuit known as Thompson v. Alabama, the Legislature finally defined crimes of moral turpitude by passing the Felony Voter Disqualification Act. It listed more than 40 crimes, including murder, robbery, rape, assault, sexual abuse, and other violent crimes, as well as some nonviolent crimes such as burglary and forgery.

Many felons who lose their voting rights and who have completed their sentences, paid all fines, court costs, and restitution, and who do not have a pending felony charge, can apply for a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote, or CERV. Those convicted of about 15 crimes, including murder, rape, sexual abuse, and treason, are not eligible to receive a CERV.

“I believe that citizens should have the opportunity to have their voting rights restored once they have completed their sentences, completed probation, or been pardoned,” Clarke said. “I firmly believe that citizens deserve a second chance when they have paid their dues.”

The League of Women Voters and other organizations work to help disenfranchised felons who have completed their sentences obtain a CERV to regain their eligibility.

Democratic lawmakers have sponsored bills to eliminate the requirement for a CERV, legislation that says the Board of Pardons and Paroles would automatically restore voting rights for those who have met their sentencing, fine, and restitution obligations and do not have another pending felony charge. Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, sponsored that legislation this year but it did not advance.

“They should either get their voting rights back automatically or they should never have lost them in the first place,” Jones said. “Alabama is not going to go that way. But this bill (HB100) basically has expanded the list. It’s like we’re headed in the wrong direction.”

Secretary of State Allen stands by his idea of expanding the list of disqualifying felonies.

“HB100 received unanimous bipartisan support in both chambers of the Alabama legislature, meaning that every Republican and every Democrat who voted in both the Alabama House and Senate voted for this bill,” Allen said in a statement. “HB100 will be a strong deterrent to those who think about committing crimes in Alabama. I’m not disqualifying anyone from voting as it relates to HB100. It’s the criminals who disqualify themselves when they break the law and wreak havoc on our communities.”

Hill, who sponsored the amendment adding to the list of crimes of moral turpitude, said he respects Jones’ opinion but does not agree that it is wrong to include voting disqualification as part of the punishment for some crimes.

“I like for people to vote,” Hill said. “You have an absolute right to vote. We want you to vote. But it’s not something that you cannot lose by virtue of your actions. And that’s what this is.”

According to the Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan organization that tracks state election laws, only two states, Maine and Vermont, do not have some form of voter disenfranchisement for convicted felons. In 20 states, disenfranchisement applies only during the time the person is incarcerated for the felony.

Hill, a former circuit judge, said he supported the original idea for Clarke’s bill, to protect election workers.

The new law says a person who commits a crime motivated by the victim’s roles as an election official will face minimum punishments that exceed the normal minimums for the same crime. For example, a person convicted of a Class B felony against an election official, such as first-degree assault, would serve at least 10 years in prison. The minimum for a Class B felony generally is two years.

Hill said poll workers perform a vital task for minimal pay.

“It’s a public service,” Hill said. “And people should not in any way be harassed or intimidated or threatened or, goodness knows, hit, or assaulted, any of that stuff while they are volunteering to help the system that we all want to see work.”