BRIAN LAWSON, THE HUNTSVILLE TIMES
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — A coalition of voting rights and civil rights groups is alleging that Alabama is not meeting the law in providing voter registration materials to residents who seek government assistance.
The National Voter Registration Act, passed in 1993 and widely known as the “motor voter” act, requires that applicants for public assistance be given voter registration applications.
In a letter sent to Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman and the commissioners of the Department of Human Resources and Alabama Medicaid Agency, the groups said an investigation and interviews found widespread failure to provide registration materials in DHR and Medicaid offices.
The New York-based civil rights group Demos and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Project Vote, both out of Washington, D.C., said in a letter dated Wednesday that they want the state to develop a plan to comply with federal voting laws.
The organizations said they will gladly meet with state officials and want to be apprised of the voting plans, but if a plan is not developed, they will sue after a 90-day waiting period.
Barry Spear, a spokesman for the Department of Human Resources, said it is department policy to provide voter registration information.
“We haven’t seen the letter,” Spear said. “Obviously we’ll work with the Secretary of State’s Office with any concerns they have. It is policy for our employees to offer voter registration to applicants when they come into the office and it has been our policy since 1994.”
Applicants for public assistance should also be asked in writing if he or she wants to register to vote or change their voter registration address, among other requirements.
“According to U.S. Election Assistance Commission data, the number of voter registration applications submitted at Alabama public assistance offices decreased by more than 75 percent from its peak in 1995-1996 to the most recent reporting period of 2009-2010,” the group wrote in its letter to Chapman.
“This drop in voter registrations is particularly significant given that the number of initial food stamp applications in Alabama during the same time frame increased by 60 percent.”
The letter also describes visits to DHR offices in 20 counties by investigators who found half the offices did not have applications available and could not provide them when requested. Three-quarters of the offices provided information only when clients asked. In one case an investigator was told to go to the courthouse to register and another office told an investigator it hadn’t done voter registration in seven to 10 years.
The Medicaid offices did slightly better, according to the letter. Of 10 offices visited, some had voter registration materials on hand, but the general practice was to distribute them when asked by clients, “rather than to every client who did not decline in writing as required by law.” READ MORE.