Alabama
Ballot Security
What Politicians Say
Alabama banned curbside voting, an innovation that has helped people with disabilities cast their ballots in person.
During the coronavirus pandemic, some local elections administrators in Alabama began allowing voters to fill out their ballots while waiting in a car outside a polling place, but Secretary of State John Merrill ruled that state law prohibited it.
A group of disabled voters sued, arguing the ban violated the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the argument went all the way to the Supreme Court, which sided with Merrill.
In 2021, the state legislature amended state law to explicitly ban curbside voting.
Ease of Voting
Alabama made no changes to state law that would affect voting access.
Ballot Security
A 2021 law authorized the secretary of state to conduct a one-time post-election audit of three counties after the midterms this fall.
Another 2021 law made a first offense for voting twice in the same election a misdemeanor, and a second offense a felony. Previously, all unlawful voting was a felony.
Lawmakers also passed a law in 2021 that allowed the state to join the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonprofit that helps states see when a voter has moved or registered to vote in another state.
The legislature also banned elections administrators from accepting private donations to run elections, such as the grants local elections officials in Alabama asked for and received from Meta Platforms Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in 2020.
Read More: Zuckerberg’s Election Aid Spurs GOP Drive in 30 States to Ban It
How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election
Republican Governor Kay Ivey congratulated Joe Biden after his inauguration, but facing a primary challenge in 2022 she ran a TV ad arguing that “fake news, big tech and blue-state liberals stole the election.”
Attorney General Steve Marshall supported a Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the election. Testifying before Congress in 2022, he refused to call Biden the “duly elected and lawfully serving” president.
US Senator Tommy Tuberville objected to the certification of Biden electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania.
All six of Alabama’s Republican US representatives objected to Arizona and Pennsylvania. Five signed an amicus brief in support of the Texas lawsuit.
Republican Secretary of State nominee Wes Allen has falsely claimed that a nonpartisan group that helps states compare voter rolls is bankrolled by financier George Soros and pledged to stop working with it.