Audit Law Strengthens Alabama Elections

During the final days of the 2026 legislative session, Alabama lawmakers approved legislation establishing a new requirement for local election officials to conduct post-election audits. The enactment of HB 95 continues a nationwide uptick in the use of election audits over the past 15 years and builds on a pilot program conducted in Alabama during the 2022 general election. Audit practices vary substantially from state to state, and the bill’s requirements set a strong foundation for Alabama’s audit program to provide valuable information to the public in the near term and evolve in ways that can further strengthen the state’s electoral process over time.

There is no single standard for what constitutes an election audit, but tabulation and procedural audits are two of the most common. Conducted after polls close, tabulation audits typically involve hand counting some portion of the cast ballots, comparing those results to results from the ballot tabulator. Meanwhile, procedural audits can be used to evaluate a wide range of election administration processes (e.g., voting equipment testing, ballot management practices) either before or after the election.

Sponsored by Rep. Joe Lovvorn, HB 95 requires local election officials in Alabama to conduct post-election tabulation audits starting with the general election this year and continuing for each general election moving forward. At minimum, each county will audit the ballots cast at a single precinct in a single statewide or countywide race and deliver the audit findings to the Secretary of State for posting online. Counties have the option to audit additional precincts and additional races.

Election officials are permitted to use tabulators during the audit, but at least 30 ballots must be counted by hand. County canvassing boards will select the precinct and race for the audit on the second Friday after the election. The audit will begin no earlier than 31 days after the election or the expiration of the time period for candidates to contest the results (whichever occurs first) and must be completed within 30 days once it begins.

For a state that has not conducted any election audits besides the limited 2022 pilot, HB 95 is a clear step in the right direction. At the same time, there are opportunities for Alabama to build upon the foundation of HB 95 and implement an election auditing system informed by experiences and best practices from other states. In fact, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in February proposed Voluntary National Election Audit Standards that outline core principles for effective election auditing, which Alabama and other states can use to evaluate current audit practices and implement improvements moving forward.

Of the 14 standards in the EAC draft, two stand out as particularly useful as a baseline minimum standard for states conducting any type of audit: transparency and efficacy. On transparency, the draft standards state “the goals, methods/procedures, and results of the audit should be clearly documented and publicly accessible, consistent with applicable law and regulation,” and “public observation of the audit process is desirable but must not interfere.” In other words, the audit should be conducted in public and the results made publicly available.  

Meanwhile, the efficacy standard states “audits should be … completed in time for the results to be useful,” meaning a tabulation audit should be completed with enough time to address any discrepancies prior to certification of the results. On the other hand, audits that do not directly measure election results can be completed on alternative timelines.

In Alabama, the HB 95 tabulation audits include transparency measures including public reporting and observation by designated poll watchers and the media. The clearest opportunity for improvement relates to timing, as the requirement for starting the audit outside the period for contesting the results ensures those results will be informational (but not actionable) for the election being audited. This is a reasonable starting point for an audit program that, according to Gov. Kay Ivey, aims to evaluate the accuracy of voting equipment and procedures rather than change results. As a next step, Alabama should strive to conduct audits with a clear goal of evaluating election results prior to certification.

Overall, incorporating audits into Alabama’s standard election process is a positive development that gives election officials another tool for communicating to the public about the election system’s reliability as well as identifying and correcting issues as they arise. As officials implement the new audit program and lawmakers refine its requirements over time, the draft (and eventually final) EAC standards can serve as a valuable guide for ensuring that Alabama’s audits help build public confidence in the election process.