Robert Cheeks, 82, voted for the first time in Birmingham’s recent municipal election, receiving applause from poll workers. Cheeks, who spent nearly four decades in prison, regained his rights through a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote. “I wanted to exercise my right as a citizen in the state, and I wanted to vote because I had never voted before,” he said.
A new study by Return My Vote found that Alabama’s “moral turpitude” law disproportionately strips Black residents of voting rights. Researchers reviewed records of 25,000 people barred from voting between 2017 and 2020. They found Black Alabamians were four times more likely than whites to lose their voting rights, with Black men disenfranchised at a rate of 22.4 per 1,000 compared to 6.7 for white men.
Counties in the Black Belt had the highest disparities. In Monroe County, the disenfranchisement rate for Black men was 40.6 per 1,000, compared to 8 for white men. The study also noted Black citizens face more difficulty regaining voting rights, with just 8.3% re-registering after completing their sentences, compared to nearly 13% of whites.
The report urged further investigation into how local authorities implement Alabama’s felony disenfranchisement laws.
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