Several African-Americans residents of West Tuscaloosa, a predominantly black neighborhood of Tuscaloosa, allege that they were subject to “voter suppression” after encountering difficulties obtaining absentee ballots in time for Tuesday’s midterm election.

The residents say they followed proper procedure to apply for absentee ballots, but that they came up against problems that nearly resulted in them being unable to vote absentee. One Tuscaloosa County woman said she is aware of multiple black residents who never received absentee ballots that they applied for.

Clarence Sutton, a black man from West Tuscaloosa currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, told AL.com in a Monday phone interview that he believes the obstacles he faced when attempting to vote by absentee ballot amount to targeted voting suppression.

He first applied for an absentee ballot on Oct. 22 but said he did not receive it in the mail until Monday, nearly a week after he says a county election official told him it would arrive. Sutton said he believes he only ended up getting an absentee ballot in time for the election because he repeatedly called county voting officials and Secretary of State John Merrill’s office over the past week and asked them to take steps to ensure it arrived in time.

“Since the Shelby v. Holder case, I feel like Alabama and some other states have been doing everything in their power to legally suppress the vote, and I just don’t think that’s right,” Sutton said, referencing a landmark 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“This is not new for Alabama, with the history and everything. I just find it interesting that every glitch that is going on in this election is targeting a specific demographic and benefiting a specific party. From the voter IDs to the closing of the DMVs, I feel like all of that is a part of a voting suppression effort.”

Merrill’s office told AL.com via phone Monday that his office “is not involved” in supervising absentee voting.

“Absentees are a local issue in each jurisdiction,” Merrill said. “When someone makes an application, their application is fulfilled when they meet the standard, meaning you are a registered voter in that county and that you qualify based on your application to receive an absentee ballot, and then it’s mailed to you at the address that you indicated you want to receive it. Whenever that occurs, you mail your ballot back to the absentee ballot manager.”

A voicemail left for Krissi Marlowe Miles, who is serving as Tuscaloosa County’s acting absentee election manager this year because circuit clerk Margaria Bobo is running for reelection, was not returned Monday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama monitors voter suppression and voting irregularities in the state. Brock Boone, staff attorney for the advocacy organization, said he is concerned about the obstacles to obtaining absentee ballots in a timely fashion that Sutton and others have come up against in recent weeks.

“The right to vote is one of the most valuable rights of individuals in a democracy. By denying someone an absentee ballot, the voting officials in that county strip away the precious right to vote,” Boone said via email. “These actions discriminate against, military, overseas, and disabled voters in particular.”

Sue Thompson, an African-American Democrat who lives in Northport, said that she encountered similar issues when trying to help her 86-year-old sister, Mary, who suffers from a “debilitating illness” that severely limits her mobility, and two other disabled black residents of West Tuscaloosa obtain absentee ballots.

Mary eventually received a ballot on Nov. 1, after a lengthy ordeal during which Thompson says county election officials erroneously told her both that they never received an application for Mary to vote via absentee ballot, and that they had mailed one out to her on Oct. 22. Thompson said she spoke with multiple other black residents of West Tuscaloosa who did not receive absentee ballots in time to vote absentee this year.

“Most of the voters who I have been made aware of were denied the vote in overwhelmingly black precincts – the McDonald Hughes [Community] Center precinct or Stillman College – in West Tuscaloosa, where probably 40 percent of Tuscaloosa’s black population lives,” Thompson said.

“It’s really disturbing because I have no idea how many people were denied and whose applications were not processed.”

The Tuscaloosa County claims have emerged in the midst of an election season in which claims of voter suppression and voting irregularities have plagued states across the nation. Just last week, Tommy Ragland, who as probate judge is Madison County’s top voting official, stated that students at the county’s Alabama A&M and Oakwood universities – institutions with predominantly African-American student bodies – had been subject to “voter suppression” during the registration process.