Alabama Secretary Of State: There Will Be No Delay In Reporting November Election Results
Election observers are warning it could be days before we know the results of November’s election because of high numbers of mail-in and absentee ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic. But Alabama’s top election official said that won’t be an issue.
“In Alabama, it’s not going to be two or three days later, a week later, two weeks later,” Secretary of State John Merrill said. “There’s not going to be any of that in our state, period.”
Merrill made the comment Tuesday on NPR and WAMU’s 1A. His appearance was part of WBHM’s Across America partnership with the show.
Merrill expanded the list of excuses voters could claim to vote absentee in the July 14 runoff to include concerns about the coronavirus. He extended that excuse to include the November election. Merrill said voters returned about 33,000 absentee ballots in the runoff election. He estimated the state could see more than 100,000 absentee ballots requested in the general election.
When host Jenn White asked about the need for additional staffing to process more absentee ballots, Merrill replied that would be a decision for local election officials. When pressed further on how he could ensure results would be reported on Election Day given that those decisions are made at the local level, Merrill said under state law, local offices are required to submit results by a deadline.
“Nobody wants to be held in contempt because they didn’t provide the information that is required for us to receive,” Merrill said.
Merrill said local election offices have enough resources to meet that requirement. He added that voters should not have to wait in long lines in November as all of Alabama’s 67 counties will use electronic poll books, which he expects will reduce wait times up to 75%.
1A Across America is funded through a grant from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 that is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting.
Outage at Amazon Web Services disrupts websites across the internet
Amazon's cloud computing service provides back-end support to many companies that operate online. When it has problems, so do they.
9th Circuit rules that National Guard can deploy to Portland
The appeals court overturned the ruling of a lower court judge in Oregon, and clears the way for President Trump to deploy the National Guard to Portland.
This isn’t the Louvre’s first high-profile heist. Here’s a history of earlier thefts
Masked thieves stole priceless jewels from the Louvre on Sunday morning. The Paris museum has suffered a string of successful art heists, dating back to the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911.
Trump’s fake video featured ‘Danger Zone.’ Musician Kenny Loggins wants it scrubbed
The "Danger Zone" singer is asking for his performance to be deleted from a fake "King Trump" video that the president posted to Truth Social on Saturday.
Cannabis works better than opioids for back pain, in two European studies
Millions of Americans use weed to treat chronic pain, but there's little high quality research on whether it works. New findings suggest it can be effective for low back pain, on par with opioids.
Can collagen supplements improve your skin? Here’s what the research shows
With age comes wisdom. And wrinkles. And joint pain. In wellness circles, the buzz is that collagen supplements can help with all these concerns. But are these claims something you should swallow?
