Alabama preparing for record-breaking absentee voting

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - The state is breaking absentee voting records ahead of the upcoming Presidential election, according to Secretary of State John Merrill, who said the state was preparing to make sure all votes are counted.

Merrill said the state broke its absentee voting record during the July run-offs and he believed we’ll break another record in November.

So far, 301,237 absentee ballots have been requested and 240,690 have been successfully returned for the General Election.

As of September, more than 60,000 absentee ballots had been requested, according to Merrill. The state expected north of 150,000 absentee ballots to be cast in the 2020 November Presidential election in Alabama.

That meant more workers and more tabulator machines would need to be available to process the votes and Merrill said the state already had reinforcements ready to go.

“We actually provided additional absentee ballot workers for every election manager in every county in the state that requested them. We’ve already got them paid for. We’re using the CARES Act resources provided by Congress. And, we are providing additional tabulators - that’s the machine that your vote is fed into, there at the site on election day,” he said.

Merrill explained the extra machines and workers would be in place to make sure votes are counted on November 3.

The deadline to submit an absentee ballot application is Thursday, October 29.

The deadline for absentee ballots to be received by the elections office is November 2, but Merrill urged voters to get those ballots filled out and mailed back as soon as possible.

You can click here to request an absentee ballot.

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