The County Line - Legislative Preview 2001

On-Site Absentee Voting a Thing of the Past

Boy, we can all breath a little easier now that another voting "experiment" has been shelved.

Every now and then someone comes along with a great idea about how to increase voter participation. The intentions are, of course, very good. The "experiment" is aimed at getting more people to cast ballots -- to "exercise their democratic right," as they say.

It has often been my experience, however, that you can't get people to vote if they aren't interested. But that's a discussion for another day.

A few years ago, the governor at the time had what he believed to be a great idea -- and I think other state leaders shared his view. He felt that we could increase voter participation by allowing people to cast an absentee ballot without having to actually mail in an application form or to drop by the courthouse and pick up that form.

The Association opposed that legislation for several reasons. First, we felt it was unnecessary and would increase the opportunity for voter fraud. And we were also concerned about the cost and administrative difficulties associated with such a process. And, by the way, we felt it was not all that inconvenient for people to simply follow the existing absentee voting process.

Although the legislature refused to pass the legislation for a couple of years, the governor changed his bill to require the state to finance the entire on-site "experiment" and we removed our objections. The bill eventually passed.

And we embarked on this expensive "experiment".

As originally passed, the on-site absentee voting required three voting sites in each county be open on the Tuesday two weeks before the election and the Saturday 10 days before the election. That meant a total of 201 polling places were open on two different days prior to the election and folks from anywhere in the county could drop by and cast their absentee ballots.

The results only served to further prove our theory about not being able to encourage people to vote unless they are interested in the election. The turnout was disastrous -- and expensive. And the rumblings began.

The rumblings became really serious in the mid 1990s when a special election was held to fill the unexpired term resulting from the death of a legislator from Macon County. His former district included a small portion of Lee County. And this on-site voting law required those polling places be open in the three largest cities in Lee County, even though NONE of the three cities were within the legislative district.

With that as ammunition, the Association sponsored legislation in the 1999 session that reduced the on-site polling places to two in each county and reduced the voting to only the Saturday 10 days before the election. Additionally, the changes in 1999 also restricted the voting in district elections to only those areas within the actual district.

And during the 2000 election cycle we worked under those rules.

Again, participation in this on-site voting project was very low. The changes still required that 134 voting sites be operated throughout the state on a Saturday.

Following the 2000 election, everyone agreed that this experiment, although well-intended, had been a failure and should be shelved in favor of the old practice of voting absentee by mail or by showing up in the courthouse.

During the 2001 regular session, legislation abolishing this on-site voting was passed in the House and was perched on the edge of passage in the Senate. An unrelated Senate filibuster on the last night of the 2001 regular session blocked the passage of all bills -- including the one to abolishing the on-site voting.

Time ticked way. With the 2002 elections moving ever closer, and with all voting law changes in Alabama being subject to U.S. Justice Department review, our chances of skirting another dose of on-site voting seemed inevitable.

But then during the just-ended special session, everything fell into place and a bill abolishing the on-site voting process was passed and signed into law. We must still await word from the U.S. Justice Department, but there is no reason to assume that the change will not be given the go-ahead for the 2002 election cycle.

So, now we will be back to old-fashioned voting this summer and fall. Those of us who are in town will be forced to actually vote on election day at the polling place. Those who will be out of town on election day will be required to either vote an absentee ballot by mail or will go pick up an absentee ballot at the courthouse.

Chances are that the turnout for the 2002 election will be about the same as the turnout in 2000 and 1998 and 1996. The creation of the on-site voting process did not increase voting. There is no reason to believe that its abolishment will reduce voting in our state.

And, with the on-site process now a thing of the past, those of us who worry about those things are left to ponder what new "experiment" is going to show up to take its place.