By Jay Reeves
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000; 7:30 p.m. EDT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –– Alarming some sheriffs, the NAACP has signed up more than 11,000 new voters in county jails across the Southeast this year.

The nation's largest civil rights group described its campaign Thursday as a historic attempt to preserve the electoral rights of prisoners.

But a law enforcement group in Alabama worries the drive could lead to inmates banding together to oust sheriffs and other county officials they don't like.

"They could elect their own commissioner. All they'd have to do is bloc vote in a small county," said Brice Paul, director of jail services for the Alabama Sheriff's Association.

The NAACP this year has registered about 11,400 prisoners to vote in Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, said Synamon Baldwin, regional director of prisoner re-enfranchisement for the group.

The organization this week is working mainly in Alabama, where it hopes to register as many as 700 prisoners. Friday is the deadline to register for the Nov. 7 election.

The NAACP is attempting jailhouse voter registration in 22 states, Baldwin said, but numbers were not immediately available from regions outside the South.

The effort focuses mainly on people awaiting trial and those convicted of misdemeanors. State laws vary, but such prisoners generally retain the right to vote and can cast ballots even though they are behind bars, Baldwin said. Generally, people convicted of felonies lose the right to vote.

Prisoners could be allowed to vote at designated precincts, and the worst security risks could cast absentee ballots, Baldwin said.

The NAACP is the first group to register prisoners en masse, she said.

"We've had some success even though we haven't had a big welcome" in some jails, she said. "The problem we have is that people are just not aware of the law."

The North Carolina Sheriff's Association assisted with prisoner registration there, said Shawnette James of the NAACP.

"I often have wondered why this hasn't been done before," Sheriff John Baker of Wake County, N.C., said in September, when the drive was being conducted. "Now that they're doing it, I applaud it."

State officials in Alabama took a dimmer view.

Attorney General Bill Pryor and Secretary of State Jim Bennett said the drive could violate state and federal law – partly because jailhouse voting has not been approved by the Justice Department, as required by the Voting Rights Act.

"In addition, Alabama law does not oblige a sheriff to provide any special accommodation for detainees to register or vote," they said in a letter released by Pryor's office.

Paul said he received calls from three counties seeking guidance on whether to let the NAACP register prisoners, and he advised against it.

Alabama's county lockups are overcrowded with about 10,000 prisoners, Paul said, and most jails do not have the staff needed to assist with registration or take prisoners to polling places. Having jailers act as voting assistants could threaten security, he said.

Also, he said, prisoners casting ballots could lead to bloc voting or false allegations of voter fraud.

"The first thing they'd say is, 'The sheriff intimidated me and I had to vote for him,'" Paul said. "It would just create turmoil."

Baldwin said Paul's fears are overblown. She denied the registration drive is aimed at empowering prisoners to take over county politics.

The jailhouse project is part of a $9 million NAACP drive to increase black voter turnout this fall.

The NAACP also is registering voters at churches, stores, colleges and athletic events. In Huntsville, the local chapter is offering a bounty of $3 for every new voter registered by church and civic organizations.

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On the Net:

NAACP: http://www.naacp.org

National Sheriff's Association: http://www.sheriffs.org