Alabama After Shelby v. Holder: Polling Place Changes and Access to Polling Place Information

Abstract

While ensuring the voting rights of all citizens in this country is assumed to be a modern established norm, the fight continues in many states against voter disenfranchisement and discriminatory exclusions from the democratic process. The landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Shelby v. Holder (2013), allowed states with historically discriminatory voting processes to make changes to their voting laws without federal oversight. Since this decision, some states have closed or moved an alarming number of polling places, according to the Leadership Conference Education Fund (2019). Thus, we explored the extent of polling place changes in Alabama. This research involved contacting county election offices to obtain publicly available data on polling place changes, closures, and consolidations. The process and challenges of obtaining information are also included, such as the process of identifying the correct county level election office and election official, revising the wording of questions asked, and noting the response rates and challenges to obtaining polling place data. The results indicate that locating appropriate election officials and requesting polling place information are challenging and burdensome, and the number of polling place changes (including closures, moves, and consolidations) exceeds the number estimated by previous reports.