Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, speaks in the Alabama Senate on April 9, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Coleman-Madison pre-filed a bill for the 2026 legislative session that would streamline the process for those convicted of felonies to register to vote. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama lawmaker pre-filed a bill that would streamline the process for formerly incarcerated Alabamians to get their voting rights restored.
SB 24, sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles to inform those who have lost their right to vote how to register to vote. Messages seeking comment from Coleman-Madison were left Tuesday.
Under current law, certain people who have lost the right to vote due to a conviction can re-register once they serve their sentence and pay any fines related to the conviction. Current law does not require the Board of Pardons and Paroles to educate those people on how to get their voting status restored.
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Jerome Dees, Alabama policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), said in an interview Monday that SPLC is supportive of any legislation that makes participation in democracy easier.
“The concept that restoring voting rights overall, whether that’s administrative or legislation that directly gets at restoring the right and changing eligibility, ultimately strengthens families and communities,” Dees said.
Coleman-Madison sponsored a similar bill in the 2025 session. It was approved by the Senate, and the House Judiciary Committee, but was not considered by the full House. The 2026 bill mirrors the latest version of the 2025 bill.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), treason and impeachment are the only crimes not eligible for restoration of voting rights.
“There’s an extensive list that was actually recently added to … you temporarily lose the ability to vote, but then you have the ability, after certain criteria are met, to have that right restored,” Dees said.
According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, 21,034 people are in Alabama’s prisons. The state is building a new prison in Elmore County, which is scheduled to open in October, to help reduce overcrowding.
The bill also requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles to notify the Secretary of State’s Office of who has completed the necessary steps to restore their voting rights. A message seeking comment from the Secretary of State’s Office was left Monday afternoon.
“I certainly hope that the Secretary of State will see the benefit of efficiency in the process and making sure that individuals who do have the right to vote, and whether that’s they never lost it or it has been restored that they are given every opportunity to be able to participate in the voting process, particularly if that means the government removing hurdles and obstructions for those individuals,” Dees said.
Dees said that most convicted of a felony never lose their right to vote, but the lack of education on registering to vote.
“There are a number of individuals who have been convicted of that first category that never lost their right to vote, but because of the lack of general public education and awareness, believed that they had lost their right to vote and just had never voted since,” Dees said.
The Legislature begins its 2026 session in January.
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Author: Anna Barrett