Voting laws in Alabama

From Ballotpedia

Note: Before taking any action, or if you have any questions, contact your state election agency.

Qualifications to vote

Qualifications of electors generally.

Any person possessing the qualifications of an elector set out in Article 8 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as modified by federal law, and not laboring under any disqualification listed therein, shall be an elector, and shall be entitled to register and to vote at any election by the people.^[1]

Felon voting rights restoration

Any person who is disqualified by reason of conviction of any of the offenses mentioned in Article VIII of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, except treason and impeachment, whether the conviction was had in a state or federal court, and who has been pardoned, may be restored to citizenship with the right to vote by the State Board of Pardons and Paroles when specifically expressed in the pardon. If otherwise qualified, such person shall be permitted to register or re-register as an elector upon submission of a copy of the pardon document to the board of registrars of the county of his or her residence. In addition, any person who has been granted a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote by the Board of Pardons and Paroles pursuant to Section 15-22-36.1, shall be permitted to register or re-register as an elector upon submission of a copy of the certificate to the board of registrars of the county of his or her residence.^[2]

Absentee voting

Absentee balloting generally

(a) Any qualified elector of this state may apply for and vote an absentee ballot by mail or by hand delivery, as provided in Sections 17-11-5 and 17-11-9, in any primary, general, special, or municipal election, if he or she makes application in writing therefor not less than five days prior to the election in which he or she desires to vote and meets one of the following requirements:

(1) The person will be out of the county or the state, or the municipality for municipal elections, on election day.

(2) The person has any physical illness or infirmity which prevents his or her attendance at the polls, whether he or she is within or without the county on the day of the election.

(3) The person works on a shift which has at least 10 hours which coincide with the hours the polls are open at his or her regular polling place.

(4) The person is enrolled as a student at an educational institution located outside the county of his or her personal residence attendance at which prevents his or her attendance at the polls.

(5) The person is a member of, or spouse or dependent of a member of, the Armed Forces of the United States or is similarly qualified to vote absentee pursuant to the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973ff.

(6) The person has been appointed as an election officer or named as a poll watcher at a polling place other than his or her regular polling place.

(c) Any registered elector who requires emergency treatment of a licensed physician within five days of an election may apply for an emergency absentee ballot for the election and may vote by returning the absentee ballot no later than noon on the day the election is held. The attendant physician shall describe and certify the circumstances as constituting an emergency on a special form designed by the Secretary of State and provided by his or her office to local absentee election managers. The special form shall be attached to the application.

(d) Any registered elector whose name appears on the poll list of qualified voters may vote by an emergency absentee ballot if he or she is required by his or her employer under unforeseen circumstances to be out of the county on an emergency business trip on election day. Under such circumstances, the applicant shall apply for an emergency absentee ballot at the office of the absentee election manager no later than the close of the business day one day prior to the election. The applicant shall complete and file an application form designed by the Secretary of State for emergency absentee voters. The form shall contain an affidavit which the applicant shall sign or swear acknowledging that he or she was not aware of the out-of-county business requirement prior to five days before the election. An applicant who meets the requirements of this subsection may vote by an emergency absentee ballot. After voting the ballot, the voter shall hand the ballot to the absentee election manager.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of otherwise applicable law, in the event more than one absentee ballot is cast in the name of the single voter, whether any such multiple ballot is cast by mail or otherwise, none of the affidavit envelopes containing the multiple ballots shall be opened, and none of the multiple ballots shall be counted, except in the event of an election contest, upon the order of the election contest tribunal. Upon the conclusion of an election contest or, in the event no such contest is filed, upon the expiration of time for filing such a contest, the multiple ballots shall be provided to the district attorney, with photocopies provided to the state Attorney General, for such investigation, prosecution, or other action as may be appropriate under applicable law.^[3]

Military Voting

(b) An applicant for an absentee ballot who is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, including the Alabama National Guard, the United States Naval Reserves, the United States Air Force Reserves, and the United States Army Reserve on active duty or active duty for training or an applicant who is the spouse of any member of the armed forces or any other applicant qualified to vote absentee pursuant to the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973ff, may make application for an absentee ballot by filling out the federal postcard application form, authorized and provided for under the provisions of "The Federal Voting Assistance Act of 1955," Public Law 296, Chapter 656, H.R. 4048, approved August 9, 1955, 84th Congress 1st Session.^[4]

Officials for counting of absentee ballots; poll watchers.

(a) For every primary, general, special, or municipal election, there shall be appointed one inspector and at least three clerks, named and notified as are other election officials under the general laws of the state, who shall meet, at the regular time of closing of the election on that day, in the courthouse, or municipal building for municipal elections, as designated by the absentee election manager for the purpose of counting and returning the ballots cast by absentee voters. The returns from the absentee precinct shall be made as required by law for all other boxes. It shall be unlawful for any election official or other person to publish or make known to anyone the results of the count of absentee votes before the polls close.

(b) Any person or organization authorized to appoint poll watchers under Sections 17-8-7 and 17-13-11 may have a single watcher present at the counting of absentee ballots, with the rights as are conferred by the sections and by any other provisions of state law.

(c) This section shall not apply to municipal elections in cities and towns of less than 10,000 inhabitants which are held at a time different from a primary or general election. These cities or towns may establish a procedure for the appointment of absentee election officials pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 11-46-27 by permanent ordinance adopted six months prior to the municipal election.^[5]

Residency Issues

Multiple Homes

When the dwelling of any person is located partly in two or more counties, districts, or precincts, such persons may select the county, district, or precinct of their domicile, and to that end may file a statement in writing in the office of the judge of probate of the county selected, setting forth the locality of their dwelling and the lines passing through the same, together with the county, district, or precinct selected for domicile, which statement, when filed and recorded, shall establish the domicile of the person filing it in the county, district, or precinct of their selection.^[6]

Living on a district boundary

Any person who lives on a line between counties, districts, or precincts, and shall have fixed his or her citizenship according to law and that may be hereafter provided in such cases, shall be construed a citizen and elector of the county, district, or precinct in which he or she so fixes his or her citizenship, for all the purposes of this title.^[7]

Election Day Activities

Who may enter the polls

Except as electors are admitted to vote and persons to assist them as herein provided, and except for the judge of probate, the sheriff, or his or her deputy, the precinct election officials, and watchers, no person shall be permitted within 30 feet of the door of the building of the polling place.^[8]

Obstruction, intimidation, etc., of voting rights of others

It shall be unlawful for any person to obstruct, intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he or she may choose, or for the purpose of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for state or local office or any other proposition at any election. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a Class A misdemeanor. ^[9]

Disturbing elector on election day.

Any person who, on election day, disturbs or prevents, or attempts to prevent, any elector from freely casting a ballot shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a Class A misdemeanor.^[10]

Post Election Day

Canvassing of returns and certificate of election; determination of majority ; runoff elections.

(a) On the first Tuesday next after the election, by the hour of 12:00 noon, the municipal governing body shall proceed to open the envelopes addressed to the governing body which have been delivered by the several returning officers to the municipal clerk, canvass the returns, and ascertain and determine the number of votes received by each candidate and for and against each proposition submitted at the election. If it appears that any candidate or any proposition in the election has received a majority of the votes cast for that office or on that question, the municipal governing body shall declare the candidate elected to the office or the question carried, and a certificate of election shall be given to the persons by the municipal governing body or a majority of them, which shall entitle the persons so certified to the possession of their respective offices immediately upon the expiration of the terms of their predecessors as provided by law.

(b) If a single office is to be filled at the election and there is more than one candidate therefor, then the majority of the votes cast for the office in the election shall be ascertained by dividing the total votes cast for all candidates for the office by two, and any number of votes in excess of one half of the total votes cast for all candidates for the office shall be a majority within the meaning of subsection (a).

(c) If two or more offices constituting a group are to be filled and there are more candidates for election than there are offices, then the majority of the votes cast for the office in the election shall be ascertained by dividing the total vote cast for all candidates for the offices by the number of positions to be filled and then dividing the result by two. Any number of votes in excess of the number ascertained by the last division shall be the majority prescribed in subsection (a) as necessary for election. If in ascertaining the result in this way it appears that more candidates have obtained this majority than there are positions to be filled, then those having the highest vote, if beyond the majority just defined, shall be declared elected to fill such positions.

(d) If no candidate receives a majority of all the votes cast in such election for any one office or offices for the election to which there were more than two candidates, then the municipal governing body shall order a second or "runoff" election to be held on the sixth Tuesday next thereafter following the regular election, at which election the two candidates having received the most and the second most votes, respectively, shall be candidates, and the person receiving the highest number of votes for that office in the runoff election shall be declared elected.

If only two candidates are standing for election for any one office or offices and neither candidate receives a majority, then the municipal governing body shall order a second or "runoff" election to be held on the sixth Tuesday next thereafter following the regular election, at which election the two candidates shall be candidates, and the person receiving the highest number of votes for that office in the runoff election shall be declared elected.

In the event one of the candidates for a particular office in the runoff election withdraws, then there need not be a second election to fill the office nor shall the name of either the party so withdrawing or the remaining candidate be printed on the ballot of any second election held under this article. This second election shall be held by the same election officers who held the first election and at the same places the first election was held. If there should be a tie vote cast at any runoff election, then in that event the tie shall be decided by the municipal governing body.

A vote for a particular candidate by a majority of those members eligible to vote of the governing body shall be necessary to decide the election in his or her favor. The municipal clerk shall file a copy of each certificate of election in the office of the judge of probate of the county in which the city or town is situated, and the judge shall file the certificate in the same manner that he or she files the declaration of the result of elections to county offices.^[11]

Annulment of elections

No misconduct, fraud or corruption on the part of the election officers, the marker, the municipal governing body or any other person, nor any offers to bribe, bribery, intimidation or other misconduct which prevented a fair, free and full exercise of the elective franchise can annul or set aside any municipal election unless the person declared elected and whose election is contested be shown not to have received the requisite number of legal votes for election to the office for which he was a candidate thereby, nor must any election contested under the provisions of this article be annulled or set aside because of illegal votes given to the person whose election is contested, unless it appears that the number of illegal votes given to such person, if taken from him, would reduce the number of votes given to him below the requisite number of votes for election. No election shall be annulled or set aside because of the rejection of legal votes unless it appears that such legal votes, if given to the person intended, would increase the number of his legal votes to or above the requisite number of votes for election.^[12]

Further Reading

This article only highlights important parts of the Alabama Code. If the information you are looking for is not on this page, please look at the Alabama Code available online.

References

1. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-3-30 (2007)
2. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-3-31 (2007)
3. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-11-3 (2007)
4. ↑ Id.
5. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-11-11 (2007)
6. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-3-33 (2007)
7. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-3-34 (2007)
8. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-9-50 (2007)
9. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-17-33 (2006)
10. ↑ Alabama Code § 17-17-43(2006)
11. ↑ Alabama Code § 11-46-55 (2007)
12. ↑ Alabama Code § 11-46-142 (2007)

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