County Commission | The Magazine April 2018 | Page 30

FROM THE COVER
Process of continuous
improvement
Over in Henry County, David
Money is in his sixth year as probate
judge and chairman, and he is quick
to say that there are other probate
judges much more knowledgeable
about elections. He says he depends
on staff leadership, especially
because he wears two hats.
Within 48 hours after an
election, he sits down with his chief
clerk and the county’s IT manager
for something he calls “afterglow.”
Money said, “We meet to discuss
and review any issues that may have
occurred on election day. We make
notes of the things we can do to
continue to improve the election
process going forward.”
In just a few cycles, these
discussions have generated several
adjustments. They tweaked the
election school to make it more
structured and to more thoroughly
FAQ: Recounts
n Do we have an automatic
recount in Alabama?
Yes, but not for primaries. An
automatic recount occurs when
the margin of defeat in a general
election is not more than one-half
of one percent of the votes cast for
the office or the ballot measure.
However, there is a provision
allowing for the defeated candidate
to waive the recount. Ala. Code §
17-16-20.
n With a county office, is there
any way to get a recount of the
votes cast in a primary?
No; however, Ala. Code §§
17-13-80 through 17-13-82 specify
the process for contesting a party
nomination for a county office.
surface any questions pollworkers
may have. When the county did
a trial run with a new technology
(electronic poll pads), there was
frank evaluation of whether they
were beneficial.
For June 5, he is experimenting
with having a pair of roving
troubleshooters assigned to different
halves of the county so that expert
technical help is never more than
15 minutes away from any polling
place on election day.
Know your options in
emergency situations
Precincts and polling places for
the 2018 cycle have been finalized
since early March, but there
have been rare emergencies that
necessitated moving a polling place
within the three months before
an election. Attorney General’s
Opinion 1999-00273 addresses
these situations, mentioning
instances where a polling place was
unsafe due to faulty wiring and
another where a church withdrew
permission for its property to be
used as a polling place. n
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