Twelve complaints regarding a recent election in Alabama have prompted state officials to provide monitors for the next vote.
News outlets report Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said Thursday that five teams of two observers each will watch over the Montgomery municipal runoff on Oct. 8.
Merrill says reports of voter fraud following the city’s municipal election Aug. 27 sparked the plan. He says most complaints were about delays in reporting information and improper use of election equipment.
Voting machines weren’t tested ahead of the election, which Merrill says is standard operating procedure. He says some of the election workers lacked proper training.
Merrill says the state has sent observers to other elections in the past. State monitors have been used in seven municipal elections in Alabama since 2016.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
