Alabama

Alabama does not have a statewide ballot curing process for absentee/mail ballots. If you voted a provisional ballot, the deadline to provide your valid ID to the Board of Registrars is 5pm on November 8, 2024. You can track the status of your ballot using your state’s online tool.

For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.

For information on state campaign contributions, please visit your state's resource.

Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures may be available here.

No drop boxes are available. You may hand-deliver your ballot to the Absentee Election Manager’s office in your county. You can look up the address of your county Absentee Election Manager office here.

Early voting is not available.

Your next election date can be found here https://www.vote411.org/alabama

You can find more information about upcoming elections in Alabama HERE.

To be eligible to vote, you must be:

• A United States Citizen
• A resident in Alabama
• At least 18 years old
• Not convicted of a disqualifying felony (or have had your rights restored)*
• Not legally declared mentally incompetent by a court

Note: If you turn 18 years old after the registration deadline (14 days before an election), you can still vote in the upcoming election! Just be sure you submit your registration application before the 14 day deadline to ensure you're registered as you turn 18.

*The list of disqualifying felonies can be found here.

To register to vote by mail, you must provide your states Driver's License number, non-Driver's ID number or Social Security Number. To register online you will need a valid  Driver's License or non-Driver's ID from your state to submit that application.

Photo ID is required before voting.

Acceptable photo ID include:

• Alabama Driver's License
• Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Digital Driver's License
• Alabama Non-Driver ID
• Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Digital Non-Driver ID
• Alabama Photo Voter ID
• State Issued ID (Alabama or any other state)
• Federal Issued ID
• US Passport
• Employee ID from Federal Government, State of Alabama, County Government, Municipality, Board, Authority, or other entity of this state
• Student or employee ID from a college of university in the state of Alabama (including postgraduate technical or professional schools)
• Military ID
• Tribal ID
• Valid AL Department of Corrections Release Temporary ID (photo required)
• Valid AL Movement/Booking Sheet from Prison/Jail System (photo required)
• Valid Pistol Permit (photo required)

If you do not have a valid photo ID you may vote only if you are identified by two election officials in the polling place as a voter on the poll list who is eligible to vote and the election officials execute an affidavit stating this. 

If you do not have a valid photo ID and the election officials are not able to identify you, you must cast a provisional ballot.

Free photo ID available!

If you do not have a photo ID, you can get a free Alabama photo voter ID from the Secretary of State or from your county Board of Registrars. Mobile unit locations that provide these photo IDs are available and you can check out the addresses here. You are able to get a new photo ID card each time you move within the state.  

If you are elderly or have a disability such that your polling place is not accessible, you are not required to produce identification when voting by absentee ballot.

Voters can call or text 844-338-8743 at any time to reach VoteRiders Voter ID Helpline

Official results are never available on Election Day. Election officials are working around the clock to count an unprecedented number of ballots, and it’s essential that they take the time to make sure every vote is counted. 

State certification deadlines are as follows: 

State officers: Certificates must be forwarded to governor for the speaker of the House at least 10 days before the next meeting of the legislature; certified by House of Representatives.

Members of the legislature and Congress: Within 10 days if receiving the returns of election from the judge of probate of each county, furnish certificates of election to members of the Legislature and to members of Congress. 

Official results will be released on Alabama's Secretary of State website as they become available. 

You are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation.

If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.

You can make sure we have safe, fair, and efficient elections for all. Become a poll worker today!

In order to be a poll worker, you must:

• Be registered to vote in Alabama
• Be registered to vote in the precinct you want to work in
• Attend a mandatory poll working training
• Not be a member of a candidate's immediate family or the second degree of kinship
• Not be a member of a candidate's political committee

To sign up, contact your local board of elections.

Beginning in 2019, students may be eligible to work as unpaid poll worker interns on Election Day. You must be at least 16 years old at the time of the election, and be a junior or higher in High School. Click here for more information!

Polling places are open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

You can find your polling place by utilizing your state resource.

Alabama is an “open primary” state. You can choose the party’s ballot you wish to vote. This decision does not register you with that party and it is a private decision.

In a primary election if a candidate does not with the majority of the votes (50%+1) there will be a primary runoff election scheduled for a few weeks after the primary election date. The runoff election will have the top two candidates with the most votes to ensure that one of them receives the majority of the voters.

If you have any questions about your state’s primary election, please contact your local election officials.

A provisional ballot is voted the same as any other ballot except you must sign an affidavit attesting to your eligibility to vote and complete a voter update form. Reasons you may vote a provisional ballot include:

• Your name does not appear on the official list of voters for the precinct or polling place and your registration cannot be verified by the registrar or the judge of probate
• An inspector knows you are not allowed to vote at that precinct
• You are unable to show acceptable photo ID
• The polling place closing time is extended by federal or state court order
• You had requested, but not voted, an absentee ballot

If your name is not on the poll list, the provisional ballot will be counted only if the county board of registrars is able to confirm, after the election, that you are a duly qualified elector of the county.

When you cast a provisional ballot because you did not have proper identification at the polling place, you have until the Friday following the election to submit the ID to the board of registrars. If proper ID is submitted by this deadline, the ballot will be counted. You may also cast a provisional ballot if you did not receive a requested absentee ballot or did not vote the absentee ballot.

Provisional ballots are counted by noon, 7 days after the election. To find out if your provisional ballot was counted, use your state's provisional ballot tool.

All voters have the right to cast a ballot. If you need assistance you have options.

Accessible Absentee Voting Options:

Absentee voting starts 55 days before the election. Each county has at least one handicap accessible voting machine to assist voters with disabilities with absentee voting. Or, if you meet the criteria to receive an absentee ballot by mail you may vote from home. If you are permanently disabled you may vote absentee on an on-going basis. You must apply to receive an absentee ballot for all county, state and federal elections, and have the application signed and notarized by your primary physician. There is a separate application for municipal elections. The application is good for all elections during the calendar year, or if the cycle spans multiple years the application is good for the entire election cycle. You must apply for an absentee ballot annually if you wish to receive a ballot. 

Voters who need assistance in completing or returning their absentee ballot due to blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may select any person to assist them, except their employer, an agent of their employer, or an officer or agent of their union.

Accessible In-Person Voting Options:

Handicap-accessible voting machines are at every polling site in Alabama and are available whenever polls are open. If you are disabled or over the age of 70 you may move to the front of the line at the polling place, just ask a poll worker to move you.

You may request assistance at the polling place from anyone except your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union. If you need help, you may ask a poll worker to assist you.

For more information, you can utilize the American Association of People with Disabilities resource.

The registration deadline is 14 days before the elections. You can now register online. You will need to enter your driver license number or a state non-license number when filling out this form.

Time off to vote is available for those whose work hours exceed polling place hours. If not, employers are not required to give time off to vote. Employees in Alabama may take up to one hour, but not if the polls are open two hours before their shift and open at least one hour after their shift. The employer is not required to pay wages for the time off. Whether this time is paid varies by town.

To verify your voter registration status,

The voting system used in Alabama is optical scan.

Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the various candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you may bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes.

You can learn more about voting systems by checking out the Elections Assistance Commission's (EAC) resource, or through Verified Voting.