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In November, Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-District 68, pre-filed a bill for the 2025 Legislative Session that could bring early voting to Alabama. On Wednesday, Jackson’s colleague Rep. Adline Clarke, D-District 97, pre-filed her own early voting bill with its own set of specifications and procedures for what early voting could look like in the state.
Whereas Rep. Jackson’s HB59 would only require one early voting center in each of Alabama’s 67 counties, Rep. Clarke’s HB71 would require counties to “operate at least one early voting center for every 100,000 residents.” Additionally, HB59 looks to effectively sets a two-day window for early voting in the state during the week prior to an election, while HB71 would establish a longer early voting period that would “begin the Saturday 17 days before election day and extend through the Thursday five days before election day.”
The bill goes on to outline the exact hours required of each early voting site: “Polls shall be open for early voting for at least eight continuous hours between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. no fewer than two weekdays each week, with at least two days during the weekday open until 8 p.m., and between the hours of 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on each Saturday during the early voting period.”
Under the bill, each county would be responsible for appointing the “necessary early voting election officials, including at least one inspector and three clerks at each center” and those election officials would be compensated in accordance with preexisting Alabama law.
The counties would also be responsible of informing constituents of their ability to cast early ballots ahead of election day.
The bill also states that Alabama’s Secretary of State would be responsible for ensuring that all early votes “are counted and canvassed as if cast on election day,” that the early voting process is “efficient and fair” and “respects the privacy of the voter,” and “that electors who vote during the early voting period are not permitted to vote more than once in the same election.”
Currently, Alabamians can only vote early if they are casting absentee ballots with a valid excuse. If either HB59 or HB71 were to become law, voters who wish to cast their ballots ahead of election day would not be required to provide an excuse and could do so at in-person polling locations.
HB71 states that it would apply to “all general and special elections other than municipal elections.”
