Alabama Lawmakers Consider Mandatory Post-Election Audits
Prefiled bill will require Probate Judges to audit at least one precinct after general elections to boost confidence, accuracy
Alabama lawmakers will be debating a bill that would require post-election audits in every County in the upcoming session.
State Representative Joe Lovvorn (R-Auburn) has prefiled legislation for the 2026 session that would require each County’s Probate Judge to conduct an audit after every Countywide and Statewide general election. The proposal closely tracks language from the Alabama Post-Election Audit Act, already filed as House Bill 95 (HB95) for this session, WSFA has reported.
Under the bill, judges would randomly select at least one precinct to review ballots and verify that reported results reflect what voters cast. Audits would be completed and reported to the Alabama Secretary of State, including details on any problems and recommended improvements.
“We’re trying to make it a minimum impact on those doing the audits but also give us a chance are the machines we’re using, the process we’re using accurately depicting the elections we have?” said Rep. Lovvorn. “This is a toe-in-the-door to get our direction of another step of safe and secure elections that we all deserve.”
Not all lawmakers embraced that view. Rep. Sam Jones (D-Mobile) pushed back on the notion that widespread problems demand a statewide audit mandate. “I think we need to look at the various discrepancies we may have had in elections and fashion a solution to those,” Jones said. “I don’t think we ought to just blanketly do as this bill requires.”
Jones also raised questions about how precincts would be chosen and whether audits could balloon into a larger cost for counties or the state. “What happens if a probate judge decides to select all the precincts? … It becomes a major state expenditure,” he said.
A fiscal review of a similar bill last year found a potential minimum cost of about $35,000 per day to conduct audits, and a fiscal note attached to HB95 cites the same amount. That bill, HB30, was sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wood (R-Valley). HB30 passed the House and was favorably reported out by the Senate Committee, but died, having never been brought to a vote on the Senate floor.
Rep. Wood has since stepped down from the Legislature for personal reasons.
Alabama’s legislative session is set to begin Jan. 13, when lawmakers will formally begin debate on HB95.
The text of HB95 as prefiled is available at THIS LINK.
