Editor’s Note: This is an opinion column.
By Paul DeMarco
We are now less than thirty days to Alabama’s November 8th general elections.
There will be a lot of statewide and local races for voters to choose when they go to the polls.
However, down the ballot, after the candidates for office, there are also ten amendments to the Alabama Constitution to be considered as well.
One of those is Amendment 4, which relates to general elections in the state of Alabama.
If approved by voters, in the future, Alabama lawmakers would have to enact any changes to election law at least six months before any election that may be affected by the new statute.
State Representative Jim Carns proposed this Amendment after the 2020 presidential elections; some laws governing how votes could be considered or counted were changed around the country close to the last election.
Just as in football, the rules of the game should not be changed while they are playing.
Election laws should be no different, so voters have confidence in the integrity of the results. It is not fair to candidates or voters when the law governing access to the ballots are altered so close to the days the polls open.
Hopefully, this Amendment will pass in November to go into effect before the next set of elections.
Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on Twitter at @Paul_DeMarco.