Alabama Primary Voting Rules: Ballot Choice, ID, and Absentee

Alabama’s primary voting rules combine a few state-specific traps with the usual registration and ID requirements. The next primary falls on May 19, 2026, and voter registration closes 14 days earlier, on May 5.¹² Alabama runs an open primary, so you don’t register with a party in advance; you choose a party’s ballot at the polls. But that choice locks you into the same party’s runoff, and a few other rules around photo ID and absentee eligibility routinely cost people their votes.

Registering to Vote

You must be a U.S. citizen, an Alabama resident, and at least 18 years old on or before Election Day. You cannot have been declared mentally incompetent by a court, and you cannot have a disqualifying felony conviction unless your voting rights have been restored.³

Registration is open year-round except during the 14-day window before any election.¹ If you have a valid Alabama driver’s license or non-driver ID, you can register online. Paper forms are available at the county Board of Registrars, driver’s license offices, and certain government agencies, and can be sent in by mail or dropped off in person. Already registered? Check your status and address a few weeks out. A stale address is the most common reason people get turned away or sent to the wrong polling place.

Alabama disqualifies people convicted of felonies involving “moral turpitude,” a category defined by state law. If you’ve completed your sentence, you can apply for a Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote through the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The list of qualifying offenses is specific, so if you’re not sure where your conviction falls, call your county Board of Registrars rather than assume.

Choosing a Party Ballot and the Crossover Rule

Alabama has no party registration. When you check in at the polls, you tell the worker whether you want the Republican or Democratic primary ballot, and that’s the only primary you can vote in that day. You cannot split your choices across parties.

The rule that trips people up comes at the runoff. If no candidate wins a majority in a primary race, the top two meet again in a runoff held on the fourth Tuesday after the primary. Under Act 2017-340, you can only vote in the runoff of the same party whose ballot you took in the first round.⁴ Vote the Republican ballot on May 19 and you’re locked into the Republican runoff. Same for Democrats. Crossing over is not allowed.

If you skip the primary entirely, or vote only on constitutional amendments or other non-partisan items, you keep both options open for the runoff.⁴ That flexibility matters when one party’s primary is uncontested but the other party’s runoff looks competitive. Think ahead about which race you care most about before you commit to a ballot.

Photo ID at the Polls

Every in-person voter must show a valid photo ID. Alabama accepts a wider list than many voters assume:⁵

Alabama driver’s license or non-driver ID, including the digital version in the ALEA app. It cannot be expired more than 60 days.
Alabama Photo Voter ID Card, which is free from the Board of Registrars.
Any state-issued photo ID, from Alabama or another state. This category also covers a valid pistol permit with a photo, a Department of Corrections release ID, and a jail booking sheet with a photo.
Federal-issued photo ID or a U.S. passport.
Government employee ID from a federal, state, county, or municipal employer in Alabama.
College or university ID from any public or private Alabama institution, including digital student IDs. Student or employee IDs from public colleges in other states also qualify.
Military ID or tribal ID.

If you don’t have any of these, the Board of Registrars in your county issues a free Alabama Photo Voter ID Card. Handle that errand at least a few weeks before the election, not the day before.⁶

Show up without acceptable ID and you can still cast a provisional ballot. For it to count, you have to bring a valid photo ID to your county Board of Registrars by 5:00 p.m. on the Friday after the election. Miss that cutoff and the ballot is thrown out.

Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Central Time. If you’re in line when polls close, you have the right to vote no matter how long it takes.

Absentee Voting

Alabama does not have no-excuse absentee voting. You have to qualify under one of the reasons state law lists:⁷

You expect to be outside your county on Election Day.
A physical illness or disability prevents you from getting to the polling place.
You’re working a required shift of 10 or more hours that overlaps with poll hours.
You’re a student enrolled at a school outside your county of residence.
You’ve been assigned as an election worker or poll watcher at a polling place other than your own.
You’re caring for a family member within two degrees of kinship who is confined to the home.
You or your spouse are covered by the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
You’re incarcerated but have not been convicted of a disqualifying felony.

Your absentee application goes to your county’s Absentee Election Manager and must include a copy of your photo ID. Mailed applications must arrive at that office no later than seven days before the election; hand-delivered applications are due five days before.⁷

Once your ballot arrives, mark it and seal it in the envelopes provided. The affidavit on the outer envelope has to be witnessed by either a notary public or two people age 18 or older. Mailed ballots must be received by noon on Election Day. Hand-delivered ballots are due by the close of business, and no later than 5:00 p.m., the day before the election.⁷ These are hard deadlines. A ballot that lands at 12:01 p.m. on Election Day is rejected no matter when it was postmarked.

Military and Overseas Voters

Active-duty service members, military spouses and dependents, and U.S. citizens living abroad have a separate track. Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, Alabama must send your absentee ballot at least 45 days before a federal election.⁸

Use the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) to both register and request absentee ballots. One submitted FPCA covers all federal elections in the current calendar year.⁹ You’ll need your date of birth and either a state-issued ID number or the last four digits of your Social Security number. The FPCA does not require a witness or notary. Send a fresh one each January, and again any time you move.

Help at the Polls and Accessibility

Federal law lets you bring someone to help you vote. Under Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, any voter who is blind, has a disability, or cannot read or write may choose a person to assist them in the booth.¹⁰ You pick the assistant, with three exceptions: it cannot be your employer, your employer’s agent, or an officer or agent of your union.

Polling places also have to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act’s physical access standards. Alabama does not offer curbside voting as a statewide option, so if a mobility issue makes getting into your polling place hard, call your county Board of Registrars ahead of the election to ask what’s available. Absentee voting under the illness-or-disability category may be the better route in some situations.

1
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 17 – Chapter 3 – Article 3 – Section 17-3-50
2
Alabama Secretary of State. 2026 Election Information
3
Alabama Secretary of State. Voter Registration General Information
4
Alabama Secretary of State. Alabama Primary Election Crossover Voting Rules
5
Alabama Secretary of State. Valid ID at the Polls
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Alabama Secretary of State. Photo Voter ID
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Alabama Secretary of State. Absentee Voting
8
U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Best Practices for Serving Military Voters
9
Federal Voting Assistance Program. Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) Instructions
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Statutes Enforced By The Voting Section