Post-Election Audit Act Faces House Vote Tuesday

The Alabama House will vote on HB30, the Alabama Post-Election Audit Act, on Tuesday, March 18. The bill would require Probate Judges in each county to conduct a post-election audit following every county and statewide general election. This audit would be done to determine the accuracy of the originally reported results of those elections.

HB30 was introduced by Alabama Representative Debbie Wood (R-Valley). It was amended in the House Ways and Means General Fund committee and now will be voted on by the House. It can be read in its original form HERE, or in its current, amended form HERE.

“Election integrity should be the first thing we fight for when we’re elected, because our constituents go out of their way to vote for us. They take the time because they think their votes count. We told them we were the “gold standard” in the State of Alabama. Right now, we have no way of gauging that, except when people stand in line and their credentials are presented.”

“We are the front line to defend voter integrity in Alabama, and we should be doing it,” Rep. Wood continued. “I was humbled in 2018 when I had a close race, and people told me stories of what they went through to vote for me. People need to know their vote will count because they’re legal, but the ones that aren’t legal, they won’t count.”

Proponents of HB30 point out that the bill requires the Canvassing Board in each county to randomly select a precinct and statewide or county race. Audits are required to be completed before certification, allowing the audit results to be considered in election challenges. The audits require either a hand count or “clean machine” tabulation of at least thirty ballots, and the counties will be compensated for the audits.

Critics of the bill, including Focus on America, allege that HB30 is inadequate and does not significantly improve election security. They point out that the bill only requires thirty ballots to be audited, and allows the audit to be conducted by simply running the ballots through the electronic tabulators a second time, rather than hand-counting them. These critics question the small number of ballots to be counted and that HB30 only mandates auditing a single race in a single precinct. 

There are also concerns that the bill excludes absentee and provisional ballots as well as primary elections. Since many elections in Alabama are effectively determined in the primaries, this is felt by some to be a significant flaw on the bill.

Clay Parikh of Huntsville is a nationally-recognized election security expert with over twenty years of experience in cybersecurity. He frequently testifies in other States that are addressing their own election security issues. He has spoken at several Focus on America meetings and has been highly critical of HB30.

“It’s not statistically significant,” Parikh said. “It’s not a real audit. And even if they did find something, what will they do? There’s no provision to further investigate, or any penalty. It’s like they’re just passing something to say they passed something. It’s a waste.”

Rep. Wood responded to criticisms of HB30 by saying, “I’m absolutely in favor of having every vote hand-counted, but we’re not going to get that this session. I want us to pass this bill, and then work towards something better.”

Rep. Wood and other State Representatives can be contacted through the Alabama Legislature webpage.

Focus on America is a grassroots organization working to educate and empower others to be more active in the political process. They can be contacted though their website, FocusOnAmerica.us.