On Monday morning Alabama State Auditor Andrew Sorrell announced his candidacy for the Secretary of State’s office in 2026. Incumbent Secretary of State Wes Allen announced his intention to seek the role of Lieutenant Governor last week.
Currently, Sorrell currently has no challengers, and the seat is wide open.
In an interview with Yellowhammer News, Sorrell spoke about his campaign, beginning with his reasons for running.
“I’m running for Secretary of State because I care about election integrity,” Sorrell said.
“You know, great strides have been made under previous and the current administrations, but I want to finish the job. I think Alabama has great elections. We vote in person on Election Day with a photo ID on a paper ballot, so our elections are really good, but they aren’t perfect.”
Sorrell went on to recall races in recent election cycles that have been decided by a handful of votes, specifically State Rep. Debbie Wood’s (R-Valley) six-vote victory in her 2018 Republican primary runoff and former State Sen. Tom Whatley’s (R-Auburn) one-vote loss in his 2022 Republican primary race.
“There are a lot of close elections in Alabama, and Alabamians just deserve to know that every vote is counted and that each vote counted is legal.”
Sorrell says that one way Alabama could further secure elections would be by randomly auditing precincts in all 67 counties after Election Day.
“We’re the only state in the nation that does not audit our elections,” Sorrell said, voicing support for HB 30, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wood, that would begin requiring post-election audits in Alabama. The legislation, introduced on February 4, now sits in the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee.
In addition to post-election audits, Sorrell says that, if elected, he would establish a Division of Election Integrity in the Secretary of State’s office.
“I think for less than the cost of a dime per year per Alabama resident, we could have a division focused exclusively on voter fraud and we could put more effort into cleaning up our voter rolls,” Sorrell said.
“I think that’s money well spent. I’m not for growing the size of government, but some things you need to do right. Election integrity is one of those things.”
If elected, Sorrell also plans to continue Secretary Allen’s efforts to clean Alabama’s voter rolls of ineligible voters and former residents who have moved out of state.
Sorrell has also been a staunch advocate for closing party primary elections.
“I support closing the primaries because it’s common sense,” Sorrell told Yellowhammer News. “Republicans are the only people who should vote in a Republican primary, and Democrats are the only people who should vote in a Democratic primary.”
“This is not a new issue,” Sorrell said, citing the 1986 Democratic gubernatorial primary in Alabama.
“There were a bunch of crossover Republicans who voted in the Democratic primary, and it angered the Democratic Party so much that they replaced their nominee on the ballot. In the general election, the Democrats revolted and voted for the Republican, and the Republican won the governorship.”
That election saw the election of Governor Guy Hunt, the first Republican to hold that office in Alabama since Reconstruction.
As the Alabama Republican Party’s (ALGOP) bylaws chairman, Sorrell has been working to close primaries for years. In 2022, the ALGOP State Executive Committee approved a resolution calling for party registration and closed primaries.
Another issue that is bound to come up in the race to be the state’s chief election official is early and absentee voting.
Secretary Wes Allen recently told Yellowhammer News that he does not support any changes to absentee voting or any addition of early voting to Alabama’s election system, saying, “In Alabama, we have Election Day, not election month.”
Contrasting Allen’s view, former Secretary of State John Merrill recently told AL[dot]com’s Roy S. Johnson that it could “be time for the legislature to explore an early in-person voting pilot that you would have in certain locations around the state.”
Speaking to that issue, Sorrell said, “I think that there’s a fine line you have to strike between making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. If you make it too easy to vote, it might be too easy to cheat. If you make it impossible to cheat, you may be making it too hard to vote.”
“Why would we start radically changing our election process?” Sorrell continued, “I believe that you should vote in person on Election Day with a photo ID on a paper ballot.”
“I do not support no-excuse absentee voting, and I do not support early voting.”
Sorrell’s time as State Auditor has been marked by a significant effort to cut costs for taxpayers. When an executive assistant position fell open in his office, Sorrell declined to fill it. He often notes that he did not take a state vehicle upon his swearing-in, opting instead to place a magnetic sticker of the state’s Great Seal on the driver’s door of his SUV.
Sorrell has also been very successful at keeping other state agencies accountable to taxpayers.
“We’ve tracked $1.3 billion of taxpayers’ property over the last couple of years. The last fiscal year, only one-tenth of one percent of it went missing – that’s a very, very tiny amount,” Sorrell said.
Prior to his election to the State Auditor’s office, Sorrell served one term in the state House of Representatives for the 3rd District. His 2018 election to that seat was unlikely; the incumbent when he announced his candidacy was Democratic State Rep. Marcel Black, who had held the seat since 1990.
When Black announced his plans to retire during the 2018 primary season, Sorrell’s race suddenly became very competitive. After knocking on every door in the district, Sorrell won the Republican primary with nearly 77% of the vote and went on to narrowly beat the Democratic nominee that November.
In the State Legislature, Sorrell became known for his unwavering conservatism. In 2019, then-Representative Sorrell became a vocal opponent of the proposed increase to Alabama’s gas tax and was one of only 18 House Republicans to vote against the measure.
Sorrell also championed legislation to allow permitless concealed carry in Alabama. In 2022, he cosponsored State Rep. Shane Stringer’s (R-Citronelle) bill that made it to Governor Kay Ivey’s desk for signing. Late last year, Sorrell criticized Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch for suggesting the state begin requiring concealed carry permits for Alabamians under 21.
Prior to his political career, Sorrell made a name for himself as an entrepreneur, beginning by buying college students’ used textbooks at the end of fall and spring semesters and reselling them to incoming students at a discount. That side hustle flourished into a bookstore that employed nearly 30 people.
Following his success in college, Sorrell opened two gun stores in Florence and Huntsville and began investing in rental properties.
“I’m a successful serial entrepreneur,” Sorrell said, “I’m not in politics for the paycheck. I’m in it because I care about the future of the state.”
Two years before entering politics, Sorrell was traveling in Italy when he met his now-wife, Hannah.
“I was on a church history tour in Rome and got on a bus, saw a pretty girl, and took the seat in front of her. She asked me if I liked politics, and the rest was history,” Sorrell told Yellowhammer News.
A little more than a month after returning to the United States, they reserved the church where they got married. Seven and a half years later, they have two daughters – a three-year-old named Liberty and a one-year-old, Glory.
With some valuable knowledge about life as a young business owner, Sorrell also plans to relax burdens on businesses if elected Secretary of State.
“I’m going to slash business service fees,” Sorrell said, specifically pointing to the $100 fee businesses must pay to update a registered agent and the $100 fee to dissolve an LLC.
“If you open a small business, and it doesn’t go well, and you’re closing it down, it’s $100 on your way out the door just to dissolve your entity. We’ve got to slash those fees.”
Finally, asked what sets him apart from any potential challengers and why Alabamians should choose him to become the next Secretary of State, Sorrell stood on his record.
“One of the advantages about having a candidate who is or was a legislator is that you can check voting records, so you don’t just have to rely on their word that they’re serious about election integrity.”
Sorrell points to his vote to ban public election officials from accepting donations from individuals or nongovernment entities to cover election-related expenses and his support of a 2021 curbside voting ban.
As State Auditor, Sorrell has also had the power to appoint a third of the registrars in Alabama.
“I replaced eight registrars when I took over from my predecessor, and I pledged that I’d put people in there who were serious about election integrity, and I believe that I’ve done that,” Sorrell said.
Now, as he kicks off his campaign to be the state’s top election official, he is working around the clock to prepare for the myriad of questions that will come over the next year and a half.
Before announcing his candidacy, Sorrell’s reading list was put on hold as he made his way through Alabama’s 500-plus-page-long election manual – he plans to read it several more times throughout his campaign.
Riley McArdle is a contributor for Yellowhammer News. He is a Junior majoring in Political Science at the University of Alabama and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the College Republican Federation of Alabama. You can follow him on X @rileykmcardle.
