Supreme Court rejects curbside voting in Alabama

[Stevicus]

Supreme Court rejects COVID-19-related curbside voting in Alabama

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court has upheld an effort by Alabama state officials to ban curbside voting, which would allow voters with impaired mobility or those vulnerable to COVID-19 to cast ballots from their vehicles.

In an order late Wednesday, the court's five-member conservative majority permanently stayed a lower court ruling that permitted the curbside voting, which allows impaired voters to hand off their ballots to an election worker outside polling places.

The majority issued no comment or explanation with the order.

I think any time the Supreme Court makes a ruling without comment or explanation, it should be immediately considered null and void.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, the court's only remaining liberal members, voted against the stay.

Apparently, Alabama does not require face masks at polling places.

Jefferson and Montgomery counties in Alabama had planned to allow curbside voting as a safety precaution for voters vulnerable to COVID-19 -- as the state does not require face masks at polling places.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill barred the practice in May, leading to a lawsuit from several at-risk voters.

A federal court ruled that Merrill's move violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, and said a state policy allowing, but not requiring, counties to permit curbside voting was reasonable.

At least Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion.

Sotomayor wrote in dissent that Merrill "does not meaningfully dispute that the plaintiffs have disabilities, that COVID-19 is disproportionately likely to be fatal to these plaintiffs, and that traditional-in-person voting will meaningfully increase their risk of exposure."

She also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has endorsed curbside voting as an appropriate pandemic-related measure.

Republicans nationwide, including President Donald Trump, have been criticized in recent months and accused of trying to suppress voting.

 

[Wandering Monk]

Vote by mail?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Vote by mail?

I disagree with the Court's ruling here, but that is what I do.

 

[Kenny]

Supreme Court rejects COVID-19-related curbside voting in Alabama

I think any time the Supreme Court makes a ruling without comment or explanation, it should be immediately considered null and void.

Apparently, Alabama does not require face masks at polling places.

At least Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion.

She also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has endorsed curbside voting as an appropriate pandemic-related measure.

Republicans nationwide, including President Donald Trump, have been criticized in recent months and accused of trying to suppress voting.

I find the last statement (not written by you) very suspect in that it is very one-sided and specifically mentions a party without mention of the other party that has also been accused in reference to voting. I would call that "a in-kind paid political announcement that has been approved by the author." As if Republicans don't want people to vote or, for that matter, limit voting.

I don't find the Supreme court lack of a comment necessary if the lower courts have already commented on it. They are just, in essence, approving their comments.

In as much as there is mail-in-voting capacity, curbside (and the costs that would be required and the manpower to protect the process) is irrelevant.

There is no substance to the complaint IMO

 

[Quetzal]

The good news is that with the EC, Alabama is and always will be a lost cause for anything that isn't strictly Republican. From the perspective of the political opposition, nothing gained and nothing lost. But this partisanship in the Supreme Court is worth keeping an eye on.

 

[Tambourine]

In as much as there is mail-in-voting capacity, curbside (and the costs that would be required and the manpower to protect the process) is irrelevant.

You mean, the exact method that US Republicans have been characterized as vulnerable to fraud during recent months?