Alabaster voter reports suppression at polling place

Published 1:47 pm Thursday, December 14, 2017

ALABASTER – A woman who is registered to vote in Alabaster recently claimed that she was made to supply her birth certificate in order to vote at her polling place, Siluria Baptist Church, during the Alabama U.S. Senate special election on Tuesday, Dec. 12.

In a Twitter thread she wrote, 29-year-old Brittany Melton said she drove to Alabaster from her current residence to be told by poll workers that she and others were marked as inactive.

“I have voted at the same place all my life. Even when I’ve lived elsewhere, I’ve driven home. Or twice, I’ve done absentee. We literally just had an election that I voted in. Drove home and everything,” Melton wrote on Twitter. “But because this election is high stakes, suddenly I, and tons of others in my small town, were marked as inactive.”

Melton said she and other inactive voters were sent to a different table where she was given the option to cast a provisional vote. Provisional votes will be counted on Tuesday, Dec. 19.

“If you don’t remember your birth country, you can’t fill out the form. Sucks for you if you were born out of state like me. But ya girl peeped game so she brought her birth certificate like a bawse,” Melton tweeted.

As a black woman, Melton suggested that her race may have been a factor in the situation.

“Y’all, they literally tried to play me like a punk. Imagine all the normal people who don’t travel with additional ID,” Melton continued. “For those who have asked, you are not allowed to have a phone out once you walk inside. That’s been a rule for years now. While some more privileged members of society may take the risk, I’m not finna have black behind escorted out.”

It is unclear which candidate Melton voted for or where she currently resides. As of noon on Thursday, Dec. 14, multiple messages seeking additional comments were left with Melton and received no reply.

According to Lisa Morgan with the Shelby County Courthouse, the clerk’s office has not heard of any situations involving voter suppression.

To read Melton’s full thread on Twitter, visit https://twitter.com/xobritdear/status/940607836912013317.