Alabama’s chief election official suggested nearly 700 people in the state may have committed voter fraud in an August runoff election, but a new review of records by local election judges shows that number is considerably exaggerated.
John Merrill (R), the Alabama secretary of state, sent the names of 674 people to election judges last month, saying his office believed they may have voted in the state’s Democratic primary and then in a GOP runoff between Sen. Luther Strange and Roy Moore in September for Strange’s U.S. Senate seat. The state banned this so-called crossover voting in May and the September runoff was the first time the law was in effect.
On Monday, the deadline for probate judges to submit their review of Merrill’s names, it’s clear the final number of those suspected of illegal voting will be far less than what the secretary of state claimed.