On July 28, U.S. District Court Judge W. Keith Watkins, a Bush Jr. appointee, refused to order Alabama election officials to notify many ex-felons that they are now free to register to vote. In the past Alabama had refused to let persons convicted of “moral turpitude” register to vote. But there was no objective standard for knowing which felonies counted, so generally election officials wouldn’t allow any ex-felon to register. But earlier this year the legislature passed HB 282, specifying which felonies are included in that term and which are not. The lawsuit is Thompson v State, m.d., 2:16cv-783.

The plaintiffs, ten voters representing a class of all affected individuals, had already filed a federal lawsuit against the old ex-felon enfranchisement policy. Because that case was still pending, they used that lawsuit to make a new demand that officials notify all the ex-felons who had previously been denied but whose felonies are not on the banned list, that they are now free to register. But U.S. District Court Judge W. Keith Watkins, a Bush Jr. appointee, said that this case cannot be used to do that. Here is his ruling denying injunctive relief. He implies that the plaintiffs should have filed a new lawsuit with a new class of voters. This part of the case had been expedited because the deadline for registering to vote in this year’s special election for U.S. Senate is July 31.

Judge Watkins is the judge who not only ruled against the Libertarian, Green and Constitution Parties in their 2012 lawsuit against the March petition deadline, he imposed court costs of $7,000 on the plaintiffs. The basis for that ruling was that the plaintiffs had missed a legal deadline to have their evidence admitted into the case. That debt has finally been satisfied, with money from the parties and also with substantial help from the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE).