For the third year in a row, State Rep. Debbie Wood (R-Valley) is facing a finished session without the final passage of her legislation mandating post-election audits in statewide elections.
Virtually identical bills have failed to pass in the previous two legislative sessions. Last year, Wood's bill passed the House but could not get a hearing on the Senate floor.
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.
HB30 was filed long before the session began. It received pushback from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike. Despite the scattered resistance, it cleared the House in March with a vote of 63-30.
SB30 also cleared a Senate committee early last month. It appeared on Thursday's Senate calendar. However, the body adjourned before they got to it.
It now needs Senate approval in the remaining three legislative days before it can be sent to Gov. Kay Ivey for a signature.
While Tuesday will be the 28th legislative day of the 30 allotted to them in the Alabama Constitution, Lawmakers typically leave one day to spare to address any possible vetoes or executive amendments from Ivey.
On a Friday episode of WVNN's "The Yaffee Program," Wood stressed the bill's importance and the need for Senate leadership to put it on this week's calendar.
"We have two days left," Wood said. "Currently, a bill has to go through both chambers. It has passed the House. It was actually on the Senate Calendar yesterday, of course they broke because Trump was in town, and, you know, we needed to have people there to greet him and to make sure that he felt welcome to our state, so I totally understand that."
She continued, "What we're praying for is that the bill gets selected to go back on the calendar. Of course, we're advocating for that. We're calling everyone that we can call that makes those decisions, and we're visiting them face to face, asking that they put House Bill 30 back on the calendar. If we can get it on the calendar, I think, based upon the vote we received in committee, we can get it out."
The bill was initially filed in 2023 after Angela Shepherd, a Lee County resident and former poll watcher who assisted in advancing the legislation, encountered issues with the voting machines.
During the 2022 election cycle, a video shot by Shepard of a tabulation machine accepting multiple copies of the same rough-cut paper ballot during a public test went viral.
On Friday, Wood emphasized Shepard's role in opening her eyes to the potential issue, saying she felt like she "let her constituents down" by not being informed sooner on the possible problems with ballot-counting machines.
"Everyone is excited about their own legislation; I get it," Wood concluded. "But as a state, if we're going to say that we're the golden standard like we told people all these years, and I was a believer — me, me, me — then we need to do what's right and protect the vote and protect the voters."
HB30 is backed by Secretary of State Wes Allen.
Shepherd is also pushing for the bill's final passage, telling 1819 News that objections to the bill, stating it will prevent anyone from voting, are categorically false.
The post-election Audit bill is not legislation to prevent the public from voting, but rather a measure to ensure integrity in our chosen system," Shephers said. "In Alabama, we choose paper ballots and tabulators to count the votes cast in an election. HB 30 ensures that the machines are calculating correctly by conducting the audit."
The bill requires the canvassing board of each county to randomly select one precinct, excluding absentee and provisional ballots, at noon on the second Friday after any county and statewide general election, and either one statewide or countywide race to be audited by the judge of probate.
Multiple House committee amendments were accepted on the bill through the legislative process. The bill would require the post-election audit to be conducted and completed by the time election returns are required to be sent to the Secretary of State for certification.
The initial bill stated, "The judge of probate may conduct the post-election audit by manual tally or by use of precinct ballot counters or other counters previously tested, certified, and sealed according to the procedures for testing and certification of precinct ballot counters prior to the election. The ballot counter or counters shall have been sealed and not used for voting during the election, subject to the audit."
The amended bill allows the audit to be done by manual tally or by use of ballot counters, provided that at least 30 randomly selected ballots are individually and manually examined and compared to the ballot counter result.
To begin the audit process, the custodian of the ballot containers will deliver unopened and sealed ballot containers, along with any other necessary election materials, 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 website. The posted results would describe any discrepancies discovered and any corrective recommendations.
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