Top Court Blocks Order Easing Alabama Voting Rules Amid Outbreak

(Bloomberg) -- A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lower court order that would have made it easier for some people to cast ballots in Alabama's July 14 primary runoff election if they were at high risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19.

The justices, voting 5-4 Thursday along ideological lines, granted an emergency request by Alabama officials, who argued that the order would undermine confidence in the election by jettisoning rules designed to prevent fraud. The high court gave no explanation, saying only that its order would apply while the case is on appeal.

A federal trial judge had ordered officials in three counties -- including the ones that contain Birmingham and Mobile -- to let people cast absentee ballots without the normally required copy of a photo identification and witness signatures or notarization.

The order applied to three of the Alabama counties hit hardest by the coronavirus.

The trial court order also would have let counties set up curbside voting, something Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has banned.

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The July 14 election features a Republican Senate primary between former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville for the nomination to run against Democratic Senator Doug Jones in November. Sessions is trying to regain the seat he held for 20 years before giving it up to become President Donald Trump's attorney general. Trump supports Tuberville.

The Supreme Court intervened even though Alabama voters have been casting ballots without witnesses or photo IDs for about two weeks. Those voters are now likely to be disenfranchised, according to three people who sued to lift the state's requirements during the outbreak.

The Supreme Court's four Democratic appointees -- Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- dissented.

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