Alabama’s Republican nominee for Secretary of State, Caroleene Dobson, is telling people to vote for U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) for Governor if they want to keep the state’s elections secure.
Dobson, a Montgomery real estate attorney and former Republican nominee for U.S. Congress, won the Republican Primary for Secretary of State in May with 65.5% of the vote.
She is claiming that Tuberville’s opponent, Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brooks), would seek to strip and repeal Alabama’s layers of election security and expose ballot boxes to fraud and abuse if he is elected governor.
“If by some travesty Doug Jones were elected governor in November, he would immediately work to abolish our state’s photo voter ID requirement, repeal our ban on ballot harvesting, and do his darnedest to transform Alabama’s election system from Fort Knox to the Wild, Wild West,” Dobson said.
“He supports drive-by voting, mail-in balloting, and every other crackpot idea that invites ballot stuffing, identify theft, and voter fraud committed by illegal immigrants.”
The candidate’s campaign released several past statements from Jones, claiming that he demonized commonsense election security measures supported by the vast majority of citizens across Alabama.
During a speech at the University of Alabama in 2016, for example, Jones said, “Through various state laws, whether it’s voter ID laws or others, access to the most fundamental freedom that we have, the freedom to vote, is being challenged every day.”
When Jones was asked during the 2017 U.S. Senate campaign whether he supported voter ID, he flatly answered “No” and added that the requirement was “going backwards on access to the ballot box.”
“If Doug Jones honestly believes the right to vote is precious, we need to make our election integrity stronger, not weaker, so dishonest and corrupt individuals cannot steal that right and cast fraudulent ballots in the names of others,” Dobson said. “Alabama has a long history of
election fraud and abuse, especially in our absentee balloting system in various areas of our state, so removing the laws that prevent those abuses makes absolutely no sense – it’s like turning off the alarm, leaving the front door of a jewelry store open at night, and trusting that nobody will be tempted to steal.”
Dobson has been campaigning on the need to create an Election Security Division within the Secretary of State’s Office.
She also plans to work with Tuberville on the issue if he’s elected in November.
“Through his strong and steadfast support for President Trump and the SAVE America Act on the federal level, Coach Tuberville has demonstrated that he understands the very real threats to election integrity and is determined to fight them,” Dobson said.
“As Alabama’s chief elections officer, I’ll work with Coach to protect our elections, root out fraud, and make sure that those who attempt to cheat at the ballot box experience what it’s like to live inside a six foot by eight foot jail cell.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
