The County Line - July/August 1999

On-Site Voting Legislation Simplifies An Otherwise Complex Process
There's that old story about ifs and buts and candy and nuts - you remember the one used when talking to the fans of the team that lost the championship game in the bottom of the ninth inning. Well, in this case, our ifs and buts story has a pretty happy ending.

During the 1998 session the Association drafted and pushed very hard legislation that would have improved the on-site absentee voting process in Alabama. Our efforts were focused on trying to pass the bill BEFORE the 1998 elections so that counties and the state would not be forced to endure the expense and administrative trouble that the law was sure to create. Well, we failed in reaching our 1998 goal, but there were a couple of ifs.

The bill passed the Senate with about eight or ten working days left in the 1998 session and was sent to the House for consideration. For a variety of reasons, the bill did not reach the House floor until late in the last night of that session. Once on the floor, the bill was amended and, therefore, was returned to the Senate for "concurrence." When the session ended back in 1998, the bill had not yet been delivered to the Senate floor and the session ended without the on-site absentee voting process being improved.

In the aftermath of the session, the ACCA staff did some what-iffing about what could have been done to pass the bill. In fact, we did an awful lot of what-iffing. We actually what-iffed during the entire interim between the 1998 and 1999 regular sessions almost to the point of becoming obsessed with passing this legislation.

If the bill had only passed, we said at least a thousand times, the on-site absentee voting process during the 1998 primary, run-off and general elections would have run smoother. We apologized, made excuses and second-guessed ourselves to the point that when the 1999 session began, we were worked into a frenzy.

And, luckily, our House and Senate sponsors were worked into a frenzy, as well. Rep. Marcel Black sponsored the bill in the House and made it a priority in the committee he chairs. And in the Senate, Sen. Phil Poole told us on more than one occasion that the bill was his top priority for the session. And he made good on that promise.

And, in the end the frenzied attitude shared by everyone involved worked. During the 1999 session the Alabama Legislature approved and Gov. Don Siegelman signed into law a major revision of the on-site absentee voting law developed by the ACCA. The bill was passed early enough that the changes in the law take effect during the special election scheduled for October of 1999.

The changes include a few very important alterations that will save an enormous amount of money and administrative hassle during future elections. First, the on-site absentee voting is reduced to just one day - the Saturday 10 days before the election. This change is very important because of the duplication that occurred during the 1998 election. During that election, on-site voting took place both on Saturday and on the Tuesday prior to the election. This meant that in every courthouse in the state you could vote an on-site ballot in the courthouse lobby on the Tuesday before the election, or you could walk down the hall to the office of the Circuit Clerk and vote the same absentee ballot there. It simply didn't make sense. Reducing the voting to one day is a very good move.

Second, the law reduces the voting sites down to a manageable number. In those counties of less than 50,000 population, the voting sites have been reduced to the courthouse and a site in the next largest city that does not contain a courthouse. And in counties of more than 50,000 the voting places were reduced by eliminating voting in those courthouse annexes that are within three miles of the courthouse.

Third, the new law requires that the county commission assign each voting precinct to one of the on-site voting locations. This change will reduce the need to have copies of all ballots for the entire county at all voting sites and it will also reduce the opportunity for voter fraud because the name of each voter will appear on only one on-site voting roll.

The legislation includes numerous other changes in the on-site absentee voting process. Copies have been made available to the county commission offices. And, by now, we hope every county has completed the assignment process for its on-site locations for the October special election.

This legislation was one of five ACCA bills that passed during this session. An overview of the other bills and the entire session is contained in this issue of The County Commissioner. However, it is important to note that even in this unusual legislative session, there were several significant pieces of ACCA legislation that became law. This revision of the on-site voting process was, of course, one of the most important of those bills.

And, as we look back at the 1999 session, there are some what-ifs to dish out concerning several ACCA bills that were not passed. However, at least for the time being, there are no ifs or buts for the on-site absentee voting law.