State Monitors to Observe Runoff in Montgomery

Earlier Thursday, Secretary of State John Merrill, held a press conference at his executive office, addressing problems that happened in Montgomery’s mayoral race last week. You may remember: It took at least an hour and a half before numbers were released.

Officials at the Montgomery Election Center said the day after the election that two jump drives were taken out of voting machines before election information was fully transferred onto them– affecting two districts. Officials said the outcome of the races was not affected and the ballots were recounted.

Secretary of State John Merrill explained what his team is doing to make sure this doesn’t happen again: “It was incumbent on us to make sure safeguards are in place to ensure the integrity and credibility for the election’s process for the runoff election scheduled October 8th, 2019. We will have a team of individuals that will go to the 46 polling sites in the City of Montgomery to monitor the elections process for the runoff.”

Merrill told Alabama News Network that mistake at the polls is nothing new: In his time serving as Secretary of State, 8 other cities in Alabama have had similar mishaps.

The City of Montgomery released a statement saying in part, quote: “The city’s and the clerk’s goal is to have a fair and honest election… any observation by the Secretary of State is welcome because we want to ensure people — when they cast their vote — have confidence in the fact that their vote will be counted correctly.”

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Twelve complaints regarding a recent election in the recent Montgomery municipal election have prompted state officials to provide monitors for the next vote.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said Thursday that five teams of two observers each will watch over the runoff on Oct. 8.

Merrill says reports of voter fraud following the city’s municipal election Aug. 27 sparked the plan. He says most complaints were about delays in reporting information and improper use of election equipment.

Voting machines weren’t tested ahead of the election, which Merrill says is standard operating procedure. He says some of the election workers lacked proper training.

Merrill says the state has sent observers to other elections in the past. State monitors have been used in seven municipal elections in Alabama since 2016.

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