The Alabama Republican Party and Secretary of State John Merrill are investigating mistakes made by officials in Etowah County that resulted in some voters being assigned to vote in the wrong Alabama House districts in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
Merrill and Etowah County Probate Judge Scott Hassell said it is unclear how many voters were affected. The confusion affected the Republican primary in Alabama House districts 28 and 29.
“Some people that physically never moved out of their home may have had their district lines changed and then when they went to vote they were not voting in the new district, they were voting in the old district,” Merrill said.
Alabama Republican Party Chair John Wahl issued a statement about the mistakes today.
“We are incredibly upset about the situation, which impacts both our Republican primary voters and our Republican candidates,” Wahl said. “Our number one priority is to make sure the will of Republican primary voters is reflected in the outcome of these elections. We are investigating precisely which areas have been impacted, how many votes may have been affected, and what remedy there is moving forward. We will do the best we possibly can in order to find a solution to this terrible situation we’re facing.”
Wahl said tonight the key unknown is how many votes were affected. He said that will help determine how the party proceeds, decisions that will also be based on court precedents, state law, and party bylaws.
There were two-candidate races in the Republican primary for each of the two affected House districts.
In District 28, former state Rep. Mack Butler received 2,652 votes, or 52%. Rep. Gil Isbell, the incumbent, received 2,450 votes, 48%, for a difference of 202 votes.
In District 29, Mark Gidley received 4,006 votes, 50.5%, while Jamie Grant got 3,924 votes, 49.5%, a difference of 82 votes. District 29 is an open seat.
There were no Democratic candidates in either district.
Isbell, the second-place finisher in District 28, said he was still trying to learn more about what happened and how many votes were affected.
“I don’t know if it’s 10 or 500,” Isbell said. “I just don’t know.”
Isbell said he was trying to gather enough information to determine if he has reason to challenge the outcome if Butler is certified as the winner.
“I lost,” Isbell said. “I hate that I lost because I think I’m better for the district.”
“I just want to make sure there weren’t irregularities that could have cost me the election,” Isbell said.
Merrill and Etowah County Probate Judge Hassell sent out a joint statement about the problems.
They noted that the Legislature approved new districts last year as it does after every 10-year census. It is up to boards of registrars in each county to assign voters to the correct districts after redistricting.
The Etowah County Board of Registrars received the data and maps on the new districts on Nov. 9, 2021, Merrill and Hassell said.
Problems surfaced when a candidate’s family member tried to cast an absentee ballot in late April and discovered the candidate’s race was not on the ballot. The voter contacted the Etowah County Probate office and the secretary of state.
“Upon learning of this voter being assigned to the wrong district, the Etowah County Board of Registrars were instructed to begin taking action to correct the problem by assigning voters to their proper districts as required by state law,” Merrill and Hassell said. “Registrars from other counties and employees of the Secretary of State’s office offered advice and guidance as to how to make the needed corrections. The members of the Etowah County Board of Registrars are the only people authorized by Alabama law to make the changes.”
During Tuesday’s primary it was discovered that the problems had not been corrected, Merrill and Hassell said.
“At this point, it is unknown how many voters were directly affected,” their joint statement said.
Merrill said the Etowah County Canvassing Board, which includes the probate judge, circuit clerk, and sheriff, will certify the results on Tuesday at noon at the Etowah County Courthouse. Merrill said the numbers will change at that time because of provisional and overseas ballots not included in the unofficial totals.
Merrill said it will be up to the Republican Party whether to stick with Tuesday’s results even though some people voted in the wrong district. Merrill said the party could hold another election for the two House seats and would bear the cost of that. He said the party’s nominees must be certified to the secretary of state’s office by July 26 in order to be on the ballot in November.
Merrill said there is no indication anyone was not allowed to vote or voted more than one ballot.
“We still don’t know how many votes were impacted,” Merrill said. “We’re continuing to investigate what has happened and we’re continuing to finish the work on the administration of this election. And when we’ve completed our investigation then there will be more information forthcoming and what action if any will be taken.”
Merrill said he went to Etowah County because of the problems and sent a team of four last week to the county but the problems were still not fixed.
Merrill said he has talked to two voters who were affected but said the number of those affected is more than that.
This story was updated at 6:49 p.m. with comments from Gil Isbell and John Wahl.
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