An Alabama committee on Wednesday put the brakes on legislation that could disqualify someone’s ability to vote if they are convicted of a felony against an election worker.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, in a 4-4-3 vote, refused to let the bill, HB100, out of committee after two Republicans expressed concerns over punishing angry voters with a “crime of moral turpitude” if they are convicted of an assault for a relatively minor offense such as pointing their finger in a poll worker’s chest.

“If someone gets frustrated and says nasty things, is that a felony or a misdemeanor?” said Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville.

Responded Rep. Adline Clark, D-Mobile, the bill’s sponsor, “That’s a judge’s discretion.”

Givhan responded, “That’s pretty scary.”

The committee’s chairman, Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, said the legislation, despite the defeat, will get “carried over” and placed on the Seante agenda to “give members time to look at it.” Barfoot voted in favor of moving the bill to the full Senate for consideration.

Clarke said she was sponsoring the legislation to serve as a deterrent against possible violence directed at election workers. And Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, who criticized her Republican colleagues for voting it down in committee, said lawmakers “know this is something that is needed.”

It was voted out of the Alabama House with a 95-0 vote on April 16.

Under HB100, increased penalties would apply against someone who commits a crime against an election official if that crime is motivated by the officials’ role in working at the polls during an election day.

If a felony is committed against the election official, which is motivated by an individual’s role as an election official, then they would be disqualified from voting.

The felony would be considered a crime of “moral turpitude.” In Alabama, those crimes include some of the most serious offenses of murder, rape, kidnapping, sexual abuse and torture, human trafficking, terrorism, child sex abuse, etc.

“My rationale for that is if there is someone trying to deprive people of their right to vote, then they don’t the right to vote,” Clarke said.

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, compared the threats against election workers as similar to threats against athletic coaches and referees. Smitherman, about 20 years ago, worked with Republican Sen. Gerald Allen of Tuscaloosa, to craft state law that enhanced penalties against someone convicted of harassing or assaulting a coach or referee during a sporting event.

“If you come out of the stands and put a finger on a referee, you will get charged,” Smitherman said. “We do it for referees, we should do it for (election workers).”

But Smitherman also said he would like to see a notification about the law posted so the public can see it at a voting site during an election.

Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, recalled an incident in 1996 in which he said he was arrested for interfering with an election official. He said at the time, he attempted to hold a door open around the closing time of the election, to allow last-minute voters a chance to vote.

Singleton said while charges against him were eventually dropped, he was concerned that under HB100 – if convicted – he could lose his right to vote for the rest of his life.

But Clarke said the legislation would only address someone’s ability to vote if the offense is a felony against an election worker.

Barfoot emphasized that HB100 was not the creation of a new penalty under Alabama law. But other Republicans said they were concerned about interpretation of existing law, which could lead to someone losing their ability to vote.

Sen. Lance Bell, R-Pell City, said he worried about angry voters charged and convicted with felonies for acting out at a polling place even if they do not attack an election worker.

“I know it’s not creating a new law, but I see people getting frustrated (while voting) and the are frustrated with IPhones and cell phones,” Bell said. “The new technology when we vote is, at times, aggravating when it doesn’t work and there is a problem. Then there are times I get frustrated when I am in there, and you see your name (listing on the voting rolls, but an election worker does not). You want to reach over and hit the IPad for them.”

He asked, “How do you interpret that? I know the law is already there, but are we making it a felony? That is what worries me.”

Though attacks on elections workers have not been an issue in Alabama, there is a growing number of threats nationwide against them since the 2020 election, particularly in so-called presidential “swing” states like Arizona. And this fall’s elections are expected to be tense.

Much of the threats have occurred in states where former President Donald Trump and his supporters aimed their baseless claims about voter fraud during the 2020 election. Following the 2020 election, more than 60 lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies were all thrown out of court.

Polling shows that threats and harassments are a concern among election workers. One-quarter of those polled in an Election & Voting Information Center survey in 2022 said they had experienced abuse, harassment, threats as part of their jobs as election workers. An overwhelming majority of the threats are politically-based.

Thirteen states have enacted election worker protection laws since 2021, and a handful of others are weighing proposals this year to create felonies meant to protect election workers.

The legislation also comes at a time that probate judges who administer elections on the county level are citing concerns over recruiting enough poll workers.

Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis said last month that the county is experiencing difficulty in recruiting residents to work at the polls. The main reasoning for that, he and others have said, was fear of potential violence based on what someone is seeing in the media on TV or the Internet in other areas of the country.

Figures said she felt Clarke’s bill was a “great” way to add a deterrent against people who might lash out with violence at poll workers during elections, while ensuring there was a way to protect them amid dwindling interest in working during an election.

“It’s hard enough to get people to work at these polls now,” Figures said, worried about perceptions of fear for working an election. “They shouldn’t have to work under those circumstances.”