As Alabamians go to the polls on Tuesday to vote in the special election for the Senate, one thing is clear: their votes remain at-risk for suppression, hacking and outright fraud by Republicans. The state is a leader in the South for disenfranchising black and Latino voters. In addition to the passage of restrictive voter ID laws, Alabama Republicans have been enabled by the US Supreme Court to close nearly 200 polling locations. On Monday night, they scored another legal victory when the state Supreme Court decided that election officials are not required to preserve digital ballot images from Tuesday’s election.
The stay was issued late Monday night, in response to a decision by a circuit court judge who sided with plaintiffs in a lawsuit which argued that the state is required to keep voting records for at least six months.
Late Monday night, the Alabama Supreme Court stayed the Montgomery County Circuit Court's order earlier that day directing Alabama election officials to preserve digital ballot images during Tuesday's Senate election. [...]
An order granting a preliminary injunction was filed at 1:36 p.m. Monday - less than 24 hours before voting is to begin. The order came in response to a lawsuit filed Thursday on behalf of four Alabama voters who argued that the state is required to maintain the images under state and federal law.
What a dream scenario for Secretary of State John Merrill, who has said in the past that he intends to make it difficult for people to vote. His exact words in an interview with a documentary filmmaker were: “As long as I’m secretary of state of Alabama, you’re going to have to show some initiative to become a registered voter in this state.” So not only does he not want people (of color) to vote, he doesn’t want any record of them having done so either.
This is yet another opportunity to threaten the very essence of our democracy. Apparently, it is already known that Alabama’s election system is at risk for hacking. But that won’t stop Republicans and the courts from making it harder to count votes.
The destruction of the images allegedly opens the door to potential hacking because there are no hard copies of the ballots, according to [Priscilla Duncan, the attorney for the plaintiffs].
"The Department of Homeland Security notified our Secretary of State here that Alabama is one of the 21 states that had been targeting for hacking of election systems," she said, referring to this year's special election for Georgia's 6th congressional district.
Let’s take stock at what’s happening in Alabama right now—voter suppression, destruction of ballot images, possible hacking. All of that translates into wins for Republicans. Congratulations, Alabama Republicans. You’ve paved the way to ensure that completely unfit candidates and sexual predators can be elected to national office ad infinitum. You and your buddy Putin must be really pleased.