Feds ‘deployed’ a ‘liberal’ org to help register Alabaman federal
prisoners to vote, according to a statement from the secretary of state.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has been registering federal prisoners to
vote in Alabama, according to Secretary of State Wes Allen, an effort he
claims is “illegal.”

“At least one liberal third-party organization has been deployed by the
Federal Bureau of Prisons to conduct voter registration in federal
prisons in Alabama,” Allen said in a statement to The Federalist.
“Obviously, this raised questions for my staff and I.”

Allen said President Joe Biden’s “Executive Order on Promoting Access to
Voting,” issued in March 2021, attempts to “mobilize and weaponize the
entire federal government” to “register primarily Democrat leaning
groups of voters.”

The federal program has taken the nickname “Bidenbucks.” Like the 2020
election “Zuckbucks” from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which enabled
third-party election meddling and get-out-the-vote efforts for likely
Democrat voters, it directs federal agencies to work with third-party
groups to “promote voter registration and voter participation” in
similar ways.

Allen asked the White House “earlier this year” how the federal
government has implemented this in Alabama. He said the administration
“confirmed” the Bureau of Prisons had “deployed” a “liberal third-party
organization” to help register federal prisoners to vote. Those with
criminal records are far more likely to vote Democrat than Republican,
making this a partisan effort.

Allen said federal prison inmates include “high percentages of
noncitizens,” people “not domiciled in Alabama,” and convicts of “crimes
of moral turpitude” — defined as “wicked, deviant behavior” — all of
whom could be “ineligible to vote” in the state, Allen said in the
statement.

Alabama requires voters to be citizens, and not convicted of a
“disqualifying felony” — a crime of “moral turpitude” — or have been
legally restored voting privileges.

“My office has sent correspondence to both the third-party group and the
Federal Bureau of Prisons demanding answers as to how they are ensuring
that only eligible, United States citizens are being registered to
vote,” Allen said in the statement. “Unsurprisingly, my office’s
attempts to gather information and ensure that only eligible U.S.
citizens and Alabama residents are being registered to vote have fallen
on deaf ears.”

Allen also said he asked the White House about its use of tax dollars to
fund the “illegal effort,” but the questions have gone “unanswered.”

The Federalist asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons how it is helping
register prisoners to vote, which third-party groups it is partnering
with, in which states, and how it can guarantee federal prisoners are
eligible to vote. Bureau of Prisons Spokesman Donald Murphy sent a
statement to The Federalist, simply saying the agency has given “general
information on voting” privileges to “all individuals in its custody”
since at least August 2020.

“Voter registration education and the facilitation of registering
eligible voters is a valuable exercise of American democracy and an
important facet of successful reentry into the community,” Murphy said.
“The information FBOP provides includes which districts allow
incarcerated individuals to vote and any restrictions their state may
have placed on their ability to vote.”

But before the official response, Benjamin O’Cone with the Bureau of
Prisons accidentally emailed The Federalist a question, apparently from
the Department of Justice intended for a government official.

“We have one question from DOJ,” O’Cone wrote, “Is it accurate to say
that BOP is working with the third-party groups? Or are those groups
simply doing there [sic] work at BOP facilities without any substantive
assistance from BOP?”

O’Cone said the email was “not meant” for The Federalist. The emails of
government employees are public records, but those records now take
record-breaking delays to access through requests authorized under
federal transparency laws.

Allen said his office is “still exploring options” to stop efforts from
the federal government to register prisoners in its Alabama facilities.

“I am dedicated to ensuring fair, secure, and transparent elections,”
Allen said. “Nobody, not even the Biden-Harris Administration, will get
me to back down from that.”

The federal government has been carrying out a similar scheme in
Mississippi, using the “Bidenbucks” order to make U.S. Marshals help
prisoners register to vote, The Federalist previously reported. The
Bureau of Prisons has been partnering with left-leaning groups like the
American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, and the
Campaign Legal Center to encourage voting among prisoners, according to
The Daily Signal.

Allen recently uncovered 3,000 potential noncitizens on the state’s
voter rolls, as previously reported in the Federalist.

Laney Rawls, Allen’s communications director, previously told The
Federalist that the federal government “limits” states’ ability to
require proof of citizenship to vote. But Allen instructs local boards
of registrars to require an Alabama driver’s license number, non-driver
ID, or Social Security number to register a voter.

“Allen has also demanded answers from state and federal agencies
conducting these expanded voter registration efforts on how they plan to
keep noncitizens from registering to vote in Alabama,” Rawls said at the
time.

https://thefederalist.com/2024/08/17/exclusive-feds-are-helping-register-alabama-prisoners-to-vote/