Political leaders across Alabama are once again calling for closed primaries in the state after a recent push for crossover voting by a state Democratic leader.

Alabama Democrat Party Vice Chair Tabitha Isner has been pushing her party’s voters to instead cast a ballot in the Republican primary coming up next month.

She continued to make that argument Friday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”

“If they wanted to close primaries before, they’ll want to close primaries after,” Isner said. “They’ll still have to deal with the fact that it’ll do nothing but piss off independents if they close their primaries. And if I have anything to say about it on the Democratic side, we’re not going to close our primaries because we’re a big tent. We want independents in our party, but if Republicans want to shoot themselves in the foot as a punishment for me suggesting that Democrats vote in their primary in August, that that seems like a win-win to me.”

A closed primary bill died in the Senate on the final day of the 2026 legislative session, after failing to receive a floor vote. Under the bill, voters would have been required to declare a party affiliation to vote in that party’s primary or runoff. A 60-day blackout period before each election would have prevented voters from switching affiliations at the last minute.

The legislation was introduced by State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity). Reacting to the comments by Isner, Yarbrough told 1819 News that he saw this problem coming.

“The people who oppose it, it’s because they don’t have honorable motives and they don’t want the more conservative option or choice to be had. I hate to say, I told you so, but I told you so,” Yarbrough said. “I’ve been told by more than one state leader that this bill is going to be a high, high priority for next session. And I fully intend, of course, to carry this legislation again and get it across the finish line. We’ll have the entire session. This bill will be filed early on, and we will be ready to roll.”

House Majority Leader Paul Lee (R-Dothan) posted on Facebook that the answer to this problem is a heavy turnout by conservative Republicans.

“The Alabama Democrat Party’s own vice chair is publicly urging Democrat voters to cross over and vote in the August 11 Republican special primary, not to support conservative candidates, but to try to knock off strong Republican frontrunners before they ever reach November,” the post says. “This is a direct attempt by the Left to interfere in our primary and pick weaker general election opponents for their own benefit. House Majority Leader Paul Lee isn’t letting that stand.”

State Auditor Andrew Sorrell commented on the post though, saying that this could have been avoided if they passed the closed primary bill.

“No, the answer was to pass the bill when you had the chance, but y’all slow rolled it so it would ‘accidentally’ not pass,” Sorrell said. “This is a direct consequence of your own failure.”

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