HB117 Summary

• Removes the requirement that registered voters provide an excuse to vote by absentee ballot in Alabama, allowing any qualified elector to vote absentee without justification.

• Maintains the existing five-day advance application deadline for absentee ballot requests and preserves voting methods (mail, hand delivery, or commercial carrier).

• Eliminates the eight specific qualifying criteria currently required (out-of-county, illness, work schedule, student status, military service, election officer duty, caregiver status, and incarceration) by striking them from Section 17-11-3.

• Updates the absentee ballot affidavit form in Section 17-11-7 to remove the requirement to check at least one qualifying reason, replacing it with a streamlined certification process.

• Becomes effective on the first day of the third month following passage and approval by the Governor.