2020 Voter Guide

Voters’ FAQs

(Source: Solomon Crenshaw Jr.)

Polls: Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across the state.

Find Your Polling Place: You can find the name and address of your polling place on the Secretary of State’s site, here. The page also tells you the districts in which you vote.

Check Your Registration: If you’re not sure whether you’re currently registered, you can check that here. Unfortunately, if you’re not registered it’s too late. The deadline to register has passed.

ID at the Polls: When you go to the polls, you’ll have to show poll workers a photo ID. Those can include many forms of IDs, including driver’s license, nondriver ID, college ID and any other state and federally issued ID card, including government employee IDs, military IDs and tribal IDs. Find more information about photo voter identification here.

Provisional Ballot: If you go to the polling place and your name does not appear on the list of registered voters, the poll worker should contact the local Board of Registrars to determine whether you are eligible to vote and at the right polling place. Even if the Board of Registrars cannot immediately verify that, you should be allowed to cast a provisional ballot, which allows voting officials to determine later whether your ballot should be counted. You also can file a provisional ballot if you do not have identification with you at the polls, but the voter has until Friday to provide an ID to the Board of Registrars.

Absentee Voting: The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot was Thursday, Oct. 29. However, voters who have become suddenly ill and required emergency treatment by a doctor since then, including those diagnosed with COVID-19, may apply for an emergency absentee ballot by the close of business Monday. Attorney General Steve Marshall said filled out ballots would have to be returned to the circuit clerk’s office by noon Tuesday by the voter’s medical designee and must include a form filled out by a doctor attesting to the cause of the medical emergency. Find the Emergency Absentee Ballot Application on AlabamaVotes.gov.

Otherwise, if you’ve applied for an absentee ballot and received it, you can take it to your local circuit clerk’s office by close of business Monday. Mailing it at this point is not a good idea. The deadline to have it postmarked is 5 p.m. Monday, but it would have to arrive in the circuit clerk’s office by noon Tuesday, which is in no way guaranteed.

If you applied for an absentee ballot and never received it or submitted it, you can vote a provisional ballot at the polls. But election officials would have to verify the information after Election Day to decide whether it can be counted.

Check the Status of Your Absentee or Provisional Ballot: You also can check the status of your absentee or provisional ballot on the same site off the AlabamaVotes.gov homepage. Just enter your address next “Registration Information.”

You also can read more about what activities are allowed in the polls by poll workers, poll watchers and voters: Poll Watchers Have Strict Rules to Follow, and So Do Others at the Polls

Campaign Financing: You can research financing of state and local candidates on your ballot on the Secretary of State’s Campaign Financing page.

You can research financing of federal candidates on the Federal Election Commission website.