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Lawmakers Consider Emergency Voting During Storms

ballot box

The Alabama Legislature may make it easier for voters to cast absentee ballots when there is a hurricane or other weather emergency.

The Senate passed a bill Thursday that would allow voters statewide to cast emergency absentee ballots when the governor declares a state of emergency. The bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Greg Reed of Jasper, said it is the result of Hurricane Isaac, which arrived on the Gulf coast when many Alabama towns were having municipal elections. He said people were faced with the choice of missing the election while they went to the coast to check on family and property, or staying home to cast a regular ballot on election day.

Reed's bill now goes to the House for consideration.

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