The Help America Vote Act, passed by Congress in 2002, is scheduled to be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2005.Alabama is on course. To date, uniform polling hours, expedited process for restoration of felon voting rights, and voter identification requirements have been implemented. The Secretary of State's office is in process of implementing a centralized voter registration system. [Update - Diebold Election Systems was selected on May 27, 2005, as the company that will implement the state unified voter registration system.] All federal funding possible for HAVA implementation in Alabama, $41 million, was awarded and has been received.

Educating citizens, candidates and election officials about HAVA has proven challenging for the SoS's office. Special emphasis has been placed on provisional voting instruction. Granger has presented nine regional seminars across the state, some in rural areas, to educate election officials. He gave high praise for two LWVUS publications* which he has used extensively in SoS education efforts. The SoS's office, along with the AL Law Institute, is currently developing the 2006 Alabama Election Handbook which outlines duties of all election officials and the law regarding all steps of the election process. Granger invited the League's input. To assist candidates, the "Candidate's Filing Guide" will now include a check list for the Fair Campaign Practices Act and forms. Citizen education about HAVA, a requirement of the act, has included the "Goat Vote" program (to motivate children to get adults to the polls and emphasize importance of voting at an early age) and a series of public service announcements. Granger asked the League to remind media outlets to air/publish these non-date specific PSAs so that citizens will better understand the voting process at the next election.

Granger acknowledged animosity of some local election officials toward the SoS's office. He attributes this to necessary changes in administration of voting systems brought about by HAVA. HAVA requires centralized control of election administration and uniform procedures. Local election offices have previously operated more independently. A problem has arisen in that the AG's office has issued an opinion that no one has supervisory authority over the Boards of Registrars, and yet HAVA states that the Chief Elections Officer (SoS inAL) is the responsible authority for all aspects of elections within the state. Granger also noted that some local election officials oppose the provisional voting process because it is complex, especially the absentee provisional voting process. Granger asked the League's help in dispelling the myth that provisional voting is bad, and said that it is superior to the "challenged ballot" approach previously used.

The SoS's office is working with the Federal Voting Assistance Program and the Military Department inAL to develop a better absentee voting process for military and other over-seas voters. Working to assure easy ballot access, reduce turn around time, and maintain voter privacy. League input is invited.

Granger said that a voter complaint procedure is in place (a HAVA requirement). He insisted that the '04 General Election went well as indicated by the fact that their office only received approximately 100 complaints state-wide and that few of these were of a critical nature. [He did not address calls received locally by Registrars' offices or by the League's national election day hotline.] He did ask League's help to educate citizens on voting process before election day and, since the SoS's office can't be in all 67 counties on election day, to help them find out if election officials are doing their jobs. "Let us know what's going on - the good and the bad."

The SoS is advocating for uniform voting process in AL (required by HAVA) that will use optical scan voting machines. HAVA compliant optical scan machines are currently used in 64/67 counties. Montgomery, Mobile and DeKalb Counties use early generation Direct Recording Equipment (DRE) voting machines that do not provide an auditable paper trail as required by HAVA. They will either have to be retrofitted or replaced. The  SoS recommends replacement with optical scan machines as used by the other counties. Also, each precinct must have one machine that will provide voting accessibility and privacy for people with disabilities and for those for whom English is a second language if that population is greater than 5% of the county population. Also, voting machines in some counties will have to be retrofitted or replaced to provide for HAVA-required precinct level vote reporting. HB496, a bill introduced in the 2005 Regular Session of the state legislature, provided for these uniform elements of the election process as required by HAVA. It also provided for economy of scale in selecting/purchasing the machines and gave the SoS's oversight of the process. He noted that other alternatives for implementing these HAVA requirements, should HB496 fail, could be through the SoS's administrative rule-making power or by appealing to the governor to include a bill similar to HB496 in a Special Session. [HB496 died in the House the week after League Convention. It is unknown at this time which course the SoS will take.]  

Granger was confident throughout his presentation that HAVA would be fully implemented in Alabama by the January 1, 2006 deadline, and that citizens, candidates, and election officials would be fully informed about the changes that HAVA brings to the election process. It was also evident that the SoS, as Chief Election Officer of Alabama, will work diligently and aggressively to establish a uniform HAVA-compliant election process in Alabama and maintain tight management control of it.

*  The monologues Help America Vote:  Safeguarding the Vote and Help America Vote:  A Guide to Implementing the New Federal Provisional Ballot Requirement were published in 2004 by the League of Women Voters Education Fund (US).