Members of the Senate General Fund Budget committee passed legislation requiring Alabama election officials to conduct a post-election audit after general elections passed by a 9-5 margin on Wednesday.
House Bill 30 by State Rep. Debbie Wood (R-Valley) would require the judge of probate 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.”
A fiscal note on the bill says it would increase election expenses of Probate Judges, to be fully reimbursed by the state, by an estimated minimum of $35,000 per day, cumulatively, to conduct post-election audits in the county.
Wood told the committee, “It’s not a bill that absolutely prevents fraud. It’s not a bill that prevents anyone from voting. It’s a measure to ensure that the VS200 tabulators that process the paper ballots are working properly.”
Wood said Alabama is the only state in the country that has not passed legislation requiring a post-election audit.
“The machines that count our votes are over ten years old,” Wood said. "The machines that tabulate our votes are aged. The company that makes the machines, they recommend that we do audits. They recommend it in their literature. Post-election audits ensure public confidence in the election process and increase transparency by demonstrating that elections are fair and accurate.
State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) said during the meeting that he didn’t support the legislation.
“I have been county party chairman. I’ve tested the machines beforehand. I understand that we’ve got some problems in the state. I understand that most of the problems are in municipal elections. There can be some arguments about because of the tightness of races, maybe even primaries. I can’t point to a single state election. There’s one county that maybe you can argue about down in South Alabama, but just statewide, legislative races, of things that I follow, anything that’s in my area that I can go ‘Oh, that election looks wrong to me in a general election. I didn’t think it was going to go that way.’ Everyone of them has gone the way that I think it’s going to go. I just don’t feel like this is just nibbling around the edges and so I just can’t support this bill,” Givhan said.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said in a statement to 1819 News, “I have always supported election transparency.”
“I voted for election audits when I was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. As the Secretary of State, I do not have a vote but my record on this issue from my time in the legislature is crystal clear,” Allen said.
The bill has already passed the House and will now head to the Senate.
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