Alabama House bill would alter state primary system

A bill filed in the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday would replace the state’s current electoral primary system with one in which — at least in some cases — the top two candidates would advance to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.

HB 214, sponsored by Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, would put all candidates on the same primary ballot — with their party identification — and open the election to all qualified voters. The two candidates receiving the most votes would advance to the general election.

Currently, Democratic and Republican primary candidates run on separate ballots. State law forbids voters who cast their ballot in one party's primary to vote in a runoff for the other.

“You get in areas that are predominantly Republican or predominantly Democrat, the people on the other side really don’t have a say,” Ball said in a phone interview Thursday. “For special elections, there’s a really low turnout. This might increase participation.”

As filed, the bill applies to all elections save presidential primaries, though Ball said he wanted the legislation to apply only to special elections, citing the long lag time between vacancies and the choice of successors. Two House seats in north Alabama are empty. Montgomery will likely have one vacant Senate seat for the entire regular legislative session this year. The general election for the seat will not take place until May.

“You look at the delay between vacancies and elections,” Ball said. “We’ve got three vacancies now. A lot of the vacancies occurred way back when.”

The system is used in California and Washington state. Nebraska uses top-two primary voting in elections to its nonpartisan, unicameral state legislature. If passed, Ball’s bill would go into effect next year, after this year’s state elections.

The bill — which would eliminate runoff elections in Alabama in races where it applied — would represent a significant departure from the current party system in the state. Terry Lathan, the chairwoman of the Alabama Republican Party, said Thursday she would be "watching the bill" but said as written, it had some issues, including a provision for separate presidential ballots and another in which a third-place finisher would move into a general election if one of the two winners died or was disqualified.

"As written, I believe it’s going to be a problem, but we’ll see if he tries to amend it," she said. "Several things jumped out at that found myself shaking my head at."

An attempt to reach Alabama Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley on Thursday morning was not immediately successful.

Had the legislation been in place last year, current U.S. Sen. Doug Jones — who became the first Alabama Democrat to win election to the U.S. Senate in 25 years last month — would like have failed to advance to the general election. Jones received 109,105 votes in the Aug. 15 Democratic primary, compared to 164,524 votes for former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and 138,971 votes for then-U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, both Republicans.

Jones and Moore each received more votes in the Dec. 12 general election than were cast in total in the Aug. 15 primary, where turnout was only 18 percent. On Dec. 12, turnout exceeded 40 percent.

Ball said the bill was not an expression of dissatisfaction with the results of the race and said “the dynamics (of the contest) would have been different” with this proposed system in place.

“This is not a knee-jerk reaction to Alabama electing a Democrat,” he said. "However, regardless of the outcome, the case in point is that you have low turnouts.”

Legislative leaders say they want a noncontroversial session, and it’s not clear if legislation to alter the current primary system could make it through. Ball said he hopes, at the least, to start a conversation about the election system.

“I’m throwing an idea out there,” he said. “I’m not trying to predict what everyone else thinks.”