1 HB285
2 208822-4
3 By Representative Allen
4 RFD: Constitution, Campaigns and Elections
5 First Read: 02-FEB-21
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 HB285
1
2 ENROLLED, An Act,
3 Relating to elections; to amend Section 17-6-4, Code
4 of Alabama 1975, providing for voting places; to prohibit
5 curbside voting of voting machines outside of enclosed
6 buildings designated as voting places.
7 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
8 Section 1. Section 17-6-4, Code of Alabama 1975, is
9 amended to read as follows:
10 "17-6-4.
11 "(a) Except as may be provided further by local
12 election laws or by the electronic vote counting statutes, the
13 county governing bodies shall designate the places of holding
14 elections in the precincts established hereunder, and,
15 whenever the county has alphabetically divided the list of
16 registered qualified voters of a precinct into groups, it
17 shall designate not only the voting place but also the number
18 of electronic voting machines at each voting place in the
19 precinct, being sure that it designates an electronic voting
20 machine for each group of qualified voters. The county
21 governing body is specifically authorized to may shall provide
22 for installing as many electronic voting machines as are
23 needed in each precinct, and the electronic voting machines
24 may be installed at one designated voting place or there may
25 be more than one voting place designated and such number of
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1 electronic voting machines installed at each place as needed
2 to provide for the voters authorized to vote at each place. No
3 electronic voting machine, or voting machine of any kind,
4 shall be installed or operated except as designated for
5 installation and operation during an election within the
6 interior of an enclosed building designated as a voting place,
7 pursuant to this section. No election officer or poll worker
8 shall take a ballot into or out of any voting place, except in
9 the performance of his or her authorized or official duties
10 that include only the pre-election and post-election
11 transporting of ballots to and from voting places as part of
12 established election procedures. The county governing body
13 shall file with the judge of probate of the county and with
14 the board of registrars, along with a copy of its order fixing
15 the boundaries of a precinct, the names of voting places
16 designated for voting, indicating in those precincts in which
17 the voters have been alphabetically divided into groups and
18 the voting places and electronic voting machines at which each
19 alphabetical group shall vote, and shall also post the list of
20 voting places at the county courthouse.
21 "(b) The judge of probate, within five days after
22 the county governing body of any county files with him or her
23 the boundaries of the election precincts and the names of the
24 voting places therein, shall give notice of the same by
25 publishing the same in some publication in a newspaper of
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1 general circulation published in the county and shall have the
2 same posted by the sheriff at the courthouse and at two public
3 places in the election district of the precinct. The notice
4 shall describe the election precincts by their numbers and
5 shall specify the place therein where elections are to be
6 held.
7 "(c) Where election precincts have been subdivided
8 into voting districts hereunder, no voter in any election held
9 thereafter shall vote at any place other than the voting
10 district in which the voter at the time is registered as a
11 qualified elector. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any county,
12 by local law, may establish voting centers by combining voters
13 from two or more precincts in order to create a voting center
14 in order to facilitate, or reduce costs, for elections.
15 "(d) Except as may be provided further by local
16 election laws or by the electronic vote counting statutes
17 laws, whenever places of voting places are once designated and
18 established as required by this chapter section, the voting
19 places for precincts shall not be changed within three months
20 before an election is to be held. When the boundaries of
21 election precincts are changed, the county governing body
22 shall forthwith designate and establish at least one voting
23 place for every 2,400 voters in each election precinct so
24 created. Places of voting Voting places shall be the same for
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1 all elections, whether primary, general, or special, or
2 federal, state, district, or county.
3 "(e) The courthouse is the voting place of holding
4 elections in the precinct in which it is situated unless
5 another place for that purpose is designated by the county
6 governing body. Elections must be held at such places in the
7 other precincts as may be designated hereafter by the county
8 governing body."
9 Section 2. This act shall become effective
10 immediately following its passage and approval by the
11 Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.
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1
2
3
4 Speaker of the House of Representatives
5
6 President and Presiding Officer of the Senate
7 House of Representatives
8 I hereby certify that the within Act originated in
9 and was passed by the House 18-MAR-21, as amended.
10
11 Jeff Woodard
12 Clerk
13
14
15
16 Senate 17-MAY-21 Passed
17
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 17-6-4, 17-6-4
Engrossed: 17-6-4, 17-6-4
Enrolled: 17-6-4, 17-6-4