An Alabama House committee advanced a measure Wednesday that criminalizes payment for collecting absentee ballot applications, but not before Democrats asked for Republicans to provide proof the issue was happening.

“I’d like to see the data,” said State Rep. Adline Clarke, D-Mobile.

Alabama Republicans, including SB1 sponsor Rep. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said the issue of so-called “ballot harvesting” of absentee ballot application does occur, and that it’s a big enough worry to address and should be part of Alabama state law.

“Do I know this is happening? Yes,” Gudger said.

The questions about whether the issue is even happening in Alabama continues to loom over SB1 as it advances through the legislative process along partisan lines. The bill passed through the Senate on Feb. 13, despite concerns about criminalizing behavior without evidence that it was occurring.

The bill now moves on to the supermajority Alabama House before it goes to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who signaled her support for SB1 during her “State of the State” address on Feb. 6.

The Alabama Democratic Party has said SB1 is a direct response to former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and is not correlated to any actual real instances of mass voter fraud in Alabama.

Republicans, on Wednesday, provided a few examples including one court challenge in Conecuh County over the results of a 2022 sheriff’s elections in which absentee ballots are being disputed. That case is before a circuit court in a case that has not been updated since last May.

“We need to realize this is happening and there is a solution,” said Alabama GOP chairman John Wahl. “This is to make sure every single vote is safeguarded and can be counted.”

Under SB1, someone could be convicted of a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison if they knowingly receive payment or gift for handling someone else’s absentee ballot application, such as prefiling it. It is a Class B felony for someone to pay a third party to prefile or handle an absentee ballot application. A Class B felony can result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

There are exceptions to SB1 for people who require assistance if they are disabled, blind, or unable to read or write. Military stationed overseas are also exempt.

Opponents of SB1 believe it could lead to criminalizing people who assist students, the elderly and the incarcerated from filling out absentee ballot applications so they can vote. Groups like the NAACP and the League of Women Voters say they are concerned it will have a negative impact on their civic engagement activity.

“Senate Bill 1 would charge our civic organization employees, volunteers and individuals with a crime for simply assisting their neighbors,” said Norma Sanders, an activist with the NCAACP in Lee County. “This is another attack on our constitutional right to vote.”

Activists who have called SB1 a “voter suppression” bill, are also criticizing the measure for providing little proof that criminal behavior is occurring with absentee ballot applications.

A representative with the League of Women Voters said they were provided with a report from the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office, detailing absentee ballot percentages by county during the May 24, 2022, primary election. Those results showed a much higher percentage of absentee ballots casts in mostly poor, rural Black Belt counties that vote for Democrats.

But the report did not include concrete examples of potentially illegal absentee ballot behavior.

“It’s what is being handed out when you ask for proof as to why we need this bill,” said Carol Mosley, vice-president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama. “It’s simplistic and meaningless.”

Gudger said the higher percentages of absentee voting in some counties illustrated an issue that was “far outside the norm of Alabama” elections. The data from the Secretary of State’s office shows only four Alabama counties, all of which are a majority Black and vote heavily Democratic – Bullock, Lowndes, Wilcox and Perry – with double digit percentages of absentee voting.

There is no proof of fraud occurring in those counties, despite the higher percentages of absentee voting compared to counties that are majority white and vote Republican.

“There are counties in which 1 in 5 ballots cast is an absentee ballot,” Gudger said. “That’s 20 percent and that is far outside the norm in Alabama, which is 3-1/2 percent. That means something is going on in those particular counties.”

In Perry County, absentee ballot manager Mia Turner told AL.com recently that excuses for filing an absentee ballot vary from health concerns to job-related conflicts. Alabama is one of only 14 states requiring an excuse to vote absentee.

Perry County, at 21.6%, had the highest percentage of absentee voting during the 2022 primary. The county’s demographics are nearly 70% Black.

“If you want to call it like it is, Senate Bill 1i is the fabric of the white supremacist cloth,” said Travis Jackson, a Black voter activist.

Gudger and Republican supporters — before the Alabama House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee — cited a few cases they say illustrate the need for SB1.

State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, requested Gudger to provide other examples of concerning behavior occurring with absentee applications. Gudger showed five pieces of paper he said had examples listed on it but declined to name them.

Gudger did reference an absentee-ballot buying operation that occurred during the 2000 election in Winston County which led to the conviction of the sheriff, circuit clerk, a district judge and several candidates for county commission and the board of education. The conspirators in the case attempted to buy absentee ballots in the 2000 Republican primary with cash and liquor.

“The biggest case in the history of Alabama occurred in my district,” Gudger said, referring to the case that occurred 24 years ago. “Is it happening? Yes it is. Can I give you a detail of how many (cases)? I can’t.”

Clarke said the case in Winston County illustrated a voter fraud case that was address through existing laws and was adjudicated. Gudger said if SB1 would have been in effect, they participants in that scheme would have faced stiffer criminal penalties.

State Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, said he was aware of ballot harvesting operations going on in Mobile County, and said he was aware of a lawsuit filed in which an organization sued a candidate for not paying $700 a week to “generate absentee ballots.” The legislation only addresses payment for gathering absentee ballot applications.

Said Gudger, “it happens all over.”

Democratic lawmakers also express concerns about how far the bill might go toward criminalizing behavior.

Clarke provided an example of her helping out her brother by printing out an absentee ballot application, filling it out for him, and sending it in.

Others questioned whether distributing 1,500 or so absentee ballot applications would be subject to criminal penalties.

Gudger said the legislation, in neither example, would apply.

“By just assisting someone, they would not (be punished),” Gudger said. “I fhtey get paid to do this, over and over, then yes, they would.”

Clarke, who has pushed for more absentee voting access in Alabama, also raised questions about a lack of definitions within the bill over what could be considered a gift or what type of third-party organizations could be punished under the new law.

She recommended the bill be forwarded to a subcommittee so it could be further worked on, which the GOP-led committee declined.

Said Givan, “this is an opportunity to further infringe upon the power and strength of the Black vote at the end of the day.”