MONTGOMERY — For the third year in a row, the House Ways and Mean General Fund Committee voted to advance a bill by State Rep. Debbie Wood (R-Valley) requiring probate judges in each county to conduct a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election.
Despite receiving broad support from lawmakers and the state Republican Party, the bill has failed to pass in the previous two legislative sessions.
This year's version, House Bill 30 (HB30), requires the probate judge of each county to order a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election of all ballots in one precinct of a countywide or statewide race, selected by the canvassing board of each county, so long as that election is not subject to a recount.
The order shall authorize the sheriff or other county authority to provide access to the ballot containers and any other necessary election materials, including electronic data.
To begin the audit process, the custodian of the ballot containers, along with any other necessary election materials, delivers unopened and sealed ballot containers subject to the audit in their original containers to the inspectors in charge of the audit.
The results would then be delivered to the secretary of state and posted on the office's official website. The posted results would describe any discrepancies discovered and any corrective recommendations.
The ballots will be audited by manual tally or by using ballot counters, provided that at least 30 randomly selected ballots are individually, manually examined, and compared to the ballot counter result for each selected ballot.
Wood presented the bill before the committee on Wednesday afternoon, receiving some pushback from some lawmakers.
"The post-election audit bill is not a recount, but a measure to ensure that the DS-200 that process the paper ballots that we all fill out are working properly," Wood said. "Post-election audits ensure public confidence in the election process, and the company that produces the tabulators even recommends that we perform an audit. Audits increase transparency and demonstrate that elections are fair and accurate."
Some lawmakers expressed concern over the bill's cost. State Rep. Pebblin Warren (D-Tuskegee) questioned its necessity in light of the fiscal note, which estimates the statewide cost to probate judges per day to conduct an audit at $35,000. The state comptroller would reimburse each probate judge for this cost.
"I would like to ask a question: Are any of the members here, have any of you ever won a close election?" Wood asked. One member responded that she had won by just over 200.
"You're looking at a girl that won by six votes," Wood responded. "You're looking at a girl who went to bed, and they said, 'You lost.' My newspaper, the next day, said I lost the race. Six votes. Up until that time, I never appreciated the voter. I had people coming up to me at the grocery store saying, "Hey. Let me tell you what we did to make sure that we voted for you.'"
She continued, "The vote and the voter became extremely important to me after that. Now, I'm here, and I won, but it was about the election process and bolstering confidence that the voter does exactly that."
Wood then retold the story of Angela Shepherd, a Lee County Resident and former poll watcher who assisted in advancing the legislation this year and in previous years.
During the 2022 election cycle, a video shot by Shepard went viral of a tabulation machine accepting multiple copies of the same rough-cut paper ballot during a public test.
"it would have taken three copied ballots in my district at that election to either bring me to a tie or a loss," Wood continued. "So, we can't afford that. We can't afford to let the wrong person get into office because we aren't checking these tabulators."
Not all Democrats were opposed to the bill. State Rep. Napoleon Bracy (D-Prichard) called it a "great idea," ensuring that one person truly means one vote.
"I support it," he said. "I've seen the video where you've had the fake ballot go through the machine and be counted, and I think we need to have more checks and balances in place."
State Rep. Andy Whitt (R-Harvest) equally echoed his support for the bill as a bipartisan measure.
"I don't know that this is a Republican [and] Democrat issue; it doesn't seem to be,"
Whitt remarked.
The bill was passed with a voice vote, making a precise count impossible to determine. It now goes to the House for further debate and a floor vote.
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