HB-259 initiated and written by Lee County election integrity advocates
BY DAVID BELL
FOR THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY — Alabama District 38 State Rep. Debbie Wood (R-Valley) is sponsoring a bill in the state legislature that would require each county probate judge 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. Such audits would commence within five days after the certification of results by the Alabama Secretary of State’s office and be completed within 14 days.
The bill, entitled, “The Alabama Post-Election Audit Act,” was initiated by two citizen activists from Lee County. Auburn resident Angela Shepherd, co-chair of the political group known as Patriots First Alabama and founder of a non-profit organization called “Voters for Election Integrity,” teamed with Lee County attorney Robert Garris in crafting the bill’s language. Garris also served as former manager of elections for Lee County.
The bill specifies that the probate judge of each county “shall conduct a post-election audit consisting of a manual tally of all ballots in not less than 10% of randomly selected precincts for one randomly selected race in each precinct that appeared on the ballot and is not subject to a recount or election contest.”
First introduced at the end of the 2023 state legislative session, HB259 is patterned after a pilot program implemented by former Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill following the 2022 General Election, whereby a post-election audit was conducted in Dallas, Houston and Marshall counties to verify the accuracy of election results. During the audit, the probate judge, sheriff and appointed poll workers in each county conducted a thorough examination of the election process. The focus was on a single polling place within each county, and both statewide and county offices were audited. The results confirmed the integrity and accuracy of the elections.
“This is not a new concept, but it’s new to our state,” said Garris, who wrote the latest version of the bill. “This is a proposed statewide expansion of the one-time pilot audit conducted by former Secretary of State Merrill.
“I’ve been interested in election security for many years, and I’ve done a lot of research in that area,” Garris continued. “Now, I’m simply following the recommendation of election security experts in other states.”
“Since my initial involvement with the election process in 2020, there were some concerning things that I saw regarding certain discrepancies, such as incorrect reporting,” said Shepherd. “It was through that experience that we formed the idea of bringing forth this bill through the sponsorship of Rep. Debbie Wood.”
HB259 has been assigned to the House Ways and Means General Fund for review.
“Since the bill requires state funding, we are currently waiting for the cost to be determined before we can place it on the calendar for consideration,” said Wood. “My concern is the limited time that remains available in this session to get it passed, but I’m hopeful we can, because this type of legislation is much needed in our state.”
The bill is co-sponsored by almost a dozen other state representatives, including Bob Fincher (District 37), Kenneth Paschal (District 73), Rick Rehm (District 85), Jennifer Fidler (District 94), Leigh Hulsey (District 15), Phillip Rigsby (District 25), Kerry Underwood (District 3), Brock Colvin (District 26), Shane Stringer (District 102), Jerry Starnes (District 88) and David Standridge (District 34).
If passed by the legislature, the Alabama Post-Election Audit Act would become effective in October and would apply to the Nov. 5 General Election.