diff --git a/packages/apbs/package.py b/packages/apbs/package.py
index cf459b4f5c63938609a24771baa61ffadeadab2a..139113884b3a62a4ed7bca913275c6dfadfa9f7d 100644
--- a/packages/apbs/package.py
+++ b/packages/apbs/package.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class Apbs(CMakePackage):
 
     # Dependencies.
     depends_on('cmake@3.19', type='build')
-    depends_on('python@3.9:3.10', type=('build'))
+    depends_on('python@3.8:3.10', type=('build'))
     depends_on('blas', type='build')
     depends_on('suite-sparse', type='build')
     depends_on('maloc', type='build')
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class Apbs(CMakePackage):
         # Min and max Python versions need to be set as variables to pass tests.
         # See tests/CMakeLists.txt lines 6-14.
         args = [
-                '-DPYTHON_MIN_VERSION=3.9',
+                '-DPYTHON_MIN_VERSION=3.8',
                 '-DPYTHON_MAX_VERSION=3.10',
                 ]
         return args
diff --git a/spack.yaml b/spack.yaml
index 3df7ed6fdf3adb1c17a59e86860cd4444e7ccf92..50e39ff770b8d60c2fa7eb988a07c53411f1f464 100644
--- a/spack.yaml
+++ b/spack.yaml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ spack:
     #- py-snudda
     #- biobb-common
     #- biobb-md
-    #- apbs
+    - apbs
     #- py-pdb2pqr
     #- sda
     # demo for codejam12