Absentee voting is a method where voters mail in their ballots before the election. Some states allow “no-excuse absentee voting,” which means that a citizen does not need a reason for the ballot. This is a popular option for those who cannot visit a polling place in person, but attempts to increase absentee voting among people of color often led to intimidation tactics, like Jeff Sessions’s investigation into Albert Turner, Sr.’s voting drive in Alabama. Leslie McCrae Dowless, Jr. used absentee ballots as part of a scheme to flood ballot boxes with straight Republican tickets. 

The Black Belt is a string of counties along central Alabama where most Black citizens live. It includes the capital of Montgomery and the historic civil rights flashpoints of Birmingham and Selma. The region suffers from extreme poverty and is often the target of voter suppression efforts.

In 2008, a conservative nonprofit sued the FEC after it prevented the organization from airing a film criticizing Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court sided with the nonprofit’s claim that the FEC couldn’t regulate political advertising and overturned campaign financing laws that limited corporate spending on elections.