By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Montgomery County Probate Judge Reese McKinney (R) spoke to the Rainy Day Patriots in February at their Candidates Forum. McKinney is running in the Alabama Republican Primary for Alabama Secretary of State.
McKinney said, “It is an honor to be here…I am running for Secretary of State…I was the Probate Judge in Montgomery County for 13 years and the only Republican elected county wide.”
Judge McKinney said that as Probate Judge he made a difference in Montgomery County: “Our elections were transparent.” When elected, McKinney said that poll worker training was insufficient and there were some instances of abuse.
Judge McKinney said that the county received a number of absentee ballots where the signatures were suspiciously similar in script. “I immediately went to the grand jury and called in some of these people, whose names were on the ballots and they never saw those ballots. We could not prove that voter fraud actually occurred to the court’s satisfaction, but it never happened again.”
McKinney said, “I probably changed out 75% of the polling officials. It made a huge difference.”
McKinney said that if he is Secretary of State that getting business filings finished quickly would be prioritized.
McKinney said that as Probate Judge he cancelled the convenience fees that the county charged people who mail their tag renewals in or who renew on-line. I encouraged internet renewals because this eliminates long lines. We can do the same thing at the state level. “I will do the same thing as your Secretary of State.”
Judge McKinney said, “I believe in absentee voting. I don’t have a problem with early voting but it has to be administered properly.”
On the military and overseas voting issue McKinney said, “I was president of the Alabama Probate Judges. We convened then and suggested how we could solve this issue. We came up with a great, great, solution….I could not get an audience with the Secretary of State.”
McKinney said that Alabama needs a Secretary of State with common sense and business sense. “We need to clean the voter rolls up.” McKinney said that board of registrars will get full cooperation from this Secretary of State if he is elected. “Voter registration ought to be open…Anybody could walk in and watch us tabulate and tally votes. Right now if you ask any Board of Registrar member and they don’t get the cooperation they need from the state they will get that with me as Secretary of State.”
McKinney said, “I implemented photo I.D. in Montgomery County until a federal judge told me to stop it.”
Judge McKinney said on Facebook afterwards, “Thursday night was the meeting of the Rainy Day Patriots in Shelby County. I am thrilled to be able to talk and fellowship with like-minded conservatives that want to preserve our Constitution. The ballot box must also be preserved and I have 15 years experience in doing just that both for voters here in Alabama and also the men and women who fight to give us that freedom.”
