On Wednesday, the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill that would issue a one-time fix for a timeline issue between the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention and the Alabama Secretary of State’s certification of party candidates for the U.S. presidential election in November 2024.
State Rep. Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) and State Sen. Merika Coleman filed companion bills in response to Secretary of State Wes Allen’s warning to state and national Democratic party officials about a significant blindside in their party’s 2024 process. Alabama’s deadline to certify is August 15, 2024. The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin August 19, 2024.
“SB324 came as a result of us hearing from the Secretary of State that President Joe Biden would not have the opportunity to be on the ballot in November,” Sen. Coleman (D-Birmingham) told the committee. “And so of course, we as a state, started rallying around wanting to make sure that every citizen in the state of Alabama has the opportunity to vote for the candidate of his or her choice.”
“And what [SB324] does is it allows for the certification of the nominee from the parties to be to be filed in the Secretary of State’s office no later than 74 days before the date instead of the 82 day,” she told the committee.
The bill received a favorable report with support from Republican members of the committee as well. State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) said “Alabamians have a deep sense of fairness when it comes to politics and elections.”
“I think people need to understand that this law has been on the books since 1970. Communications have improved just a little bit since 1975. I’d like to think that if the shoe was on the other foot that this this would be taken care of,” Givhan said.
Thursday will be day 23 of the 2024 state legislative session as lawmakers utilize today for committee meetings without taking up a full calendar day this week.
Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270
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