With the 2022 primary elections now complete in Alabama, some are wondering if the process was as smooth as it could have been in the Yellowhammer State.
In response to the controversy surrounding the District 27 Republican Primary election, which resulted in Jay Hovey winning by a single vote, and the voter registration issue in Etowah County, one Republican leader is suggesting some changes to prevent similar issues in the future.
Wednesday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Alabama Republican Party chairman John Wahl outlined four changes he would like to see to help the primary voting process in Alabama.
“The last couple weeks have been surreal,” Wahl said, “both realizing that the party holds the power of a court in the case of a contested election in a primary, and then to just the process of just looking into the information, sitting in a 12-hour hearing, having lawyers presenting information from both sides, trying to make the right decisions, just the whole thing. It’s been quite the experience.”
The first change Wahl suggested had to do with party crossover voting in the primary elections.
“I really think we need party registration and closed primaries,” he argued. “Having Democrat voters bragging that they switched over and voted in the Republican primary and swung one of our elections in the primary is very very upsetting and very, very distasteful.”
The second change he called for was a better system to map districts for certain areas.
“I think we need to make sure that every county board of registrars,” he explained, “in every single county has a mapping software where they can see these new district lines and make sure voters are assigned to the right districts. That’s just common sense.”
Wahl said the process of mapping the district could be hard without the right computer program.
“As we investigate these problems around the state,” he continued, “I’m seeing the counties that got it right had the right software. The counties that didn’t are drawing it by hand or by paper maps, and it’s just a daunting task. I have a hard time blaming them when I’m looking at this process.”
The chairman then pointed out the third change, which he suggested would add more trust to the system.
“Another area that I think would be great to see would be lower cost voting list from the Secretary of State’s office,” he said. “Right now, it’s a penny a name. We’re one of the most expensive states in the country. I think a lower cost would allow more transparency.”
The final change suggested by Wahl would be with the voter registration process itself, this change being something that could have prevented the controversy in District 27.
“Well, the one other that I would bring up,” he said, “would be with this situation with Senate District 27, which is making sure that ALEA, or anyone when someone comes in to register to vote, there’s a clear system that once they filled out the form, that’s not attached to any other right or privileges whether they are or are not registered. That needs to be a separate process where that’s done.”
Wahl admitted that some of these changes could be done strictly through the Republican Party itself, while others would have to be taken care of by the Alabama Legislature.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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