MONTGOMERY — The House Ways and Means General Fund Committee advanced legislation on Wednesday that would require county probate judges to conduct mandatory ballot audits after every county and statewide election.
House Bill 259 (HB259), sponsored by State Rep. Debbie Wood (R-Valley), would require the probate judge of each county to conduct a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election to determine the accuracy of the originally reported results of the election.
Similar legislation died on the vine last session, and this year, Wood made several changes to the bill that probate judges requested.
Wood presented a substitute bill before the committee, changing several provisions. The substituted legislation would require a post-election manual audit after every county and statewide general election consisting of a manual tally of all ballots in at least one randomly selected precinct for one countywide or statewide race, chosen randomly by the canvassing board. Any audit would occur after the 31-day period allowed for an election contest has passed.
According to Wood, the amended bill would require that provisional and absentee ballots would not be counted in an audit. She said probate judges requested that provision. The state would also reimburse counties for the costs incurred by performing the audit. The fiscal note on the bill estimates a $525 per-county cost, totaling $35,000 across all 67 counties.
Initially, the bill stated that the audit would be hand-counted. According to Wood, the new version allows audits to be conducted with a "clean" tabulator not used in any actual election.
Another aspect of the amended bill is the counting of the audited ballots. Initially, the bill stated that the audit would be hand-counted. According to Wood, the new version allows audits to be conducted with a "clean" tabulator not used in any actual election.
State Rep. A.J. McCampbell (D-Demopolis) inquired about what would happen if an audit showed an election result other than that certified by the Secretary of State. Wood clarified that any audit results could not be used to overturn or reverse an election.
State Rep. Paul Lee (R-Dothan) questioned why audit results could not be used to overturn an election if the results show the incorrect candidate won the race.
"I think that the whole reason that we're doing this is so that we know that we have accurate tabulators," Wood responded. "Those tabulators are older. A lot of times, we don't check them. We go, and we check them in the beginning, and if they work, then everything is correct. I don't know if you've ever went into a precinct and the tabulator's down, and then they have to reboot it or have to bring something else in. But this would give us an opportunity to get rid of that or replace it before the next race. I'm with you; I liked the opportunity for us to go back and look at that race as a candidate and have the opportunity to go back and do something about it. But, that was not something the probate judges wanted."
The bill ultimately passed the committee with unanimous support. It will now go to the House floor for a full vote. If it passes the House, it will have a lengthy trip through the Senate process.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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