The Secretary of State’s office announced Thursday that no county needs to count the write-in ballots for the general election.
In a statement the Secretary of State’s office wrote: “State law requires the Secretary of State’s Office to review county vote totals and compare those totals to the number of write-in votes cast in each statewide race involving a Federal or State office. Following the completion of that review, the Secretary of State’s Office is tasked with determining whether the total number of write in votes is less than the difference in votes between the candidates receiving the greatest number of votes for that office.”
“Secretary Merrill and his team have completed a review of the offices and it has been determined that no county is required by law to count and report write-in votes for any State or Federal office as provided in Alabama Code Section 17-6-28.”
County election officials must still make this determination for any county offices not included in the Secretary of State’s review.
The final vote totals as certified by the County Canvassing Board are due to the Secretary of State’s Office by Friday, November 16, 2018.
Chad “Chig” Martin and Chris Countryman both ran write-in campaigns for governor.
Allowing write-in votes slows the process of counting the votes down considerably as those ballots would have to be pulled out and counted manually.
