MONTGOMERY — The House passed a bill on Thursday that would close Republican and Democratic primaries in Alabama, but its future in the Senate is still up in the air.
State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity) recently filed legislation to close Alabama's primary elections.
Open primaries allow voters to participate in party primaries without being registered members of that party. Closed primaries generally require a voter to be a registered party member to vote in the election.
Yarbrough's bill passed the House after a lengthy debate on Thursday. The House and Senate are on spring break next week and will return on March 31 with six legislative days remaining in the 2026 session.
"We have been watching that bill somewhat closely. We have not had discussion and we will be doing that discussion when we come back on that Tuesday which is the 31st and we'll be having those discussions then about exactly where this body wants to handle that," State Sen. Pro-Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) told reporters on Thursday. "We wanted that to start in the House where it originated from and go all the way through the process and it did, it came up today. We'll be looking at that on Tuesday, and I'll give you a better answer then on where we are on that bill."
State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) is carrying Yarbrough's bill in the Senate. He said he didn't know whether the bill had a chance in the Senate.
"I don't know. We'll see how it goes, what committee it goes to, and all that fun stuff," Givhan told 1819 News on Thursday.
Under existing law, Alabama is an open primary state. There is no state law requiring a voter to register his or her party affiliation when registering to vote. The bill would allow a voter to register a political party affiliation. The bill would require a voter to be registered with a political party to vote the party's ballot in a primary election or a primary runoff. The bill would prohibit an elector from changing his or her political party affiliation during a blackout period beginning 60 days before a primary election.
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