Judge orders Alabama Secretary of State to add amendment to November ballot

Alabamians will vote in November on a proposal aimed at protecting up to 600 local laws — from sales taxes to annexations to draft beer regulations — from being invalidated because of a legal dispute over legislative procedure.

Secretary of State John Merrill and lawmakers had disagreed over whether the measure's inclusion on the ballot. Merrill said the deadline for ballot additions had passed. Montgomery Circuit Judge William Shashy on Friday ordered Merrill to add it to the Nov.8 ballot.

Merrill had argued that the deadline was 76 days before an election. Lawmakers said it was 74. The Chilton County Health Care Authority on Friday filed the emergency petition with the judge, arguing Merrill was using unfounded reasoning to keep it off the ballot.

"As the Attorney General's informal advice recognizes, the Secretary's seventy-six day time frame is not a constitutional or statutory requirement for proposed constitutional amendments. Rather, it is a mere internal practice based upon the timeframe set for the submission of primary election candidates for inclusion on the ballot," lawyers for the health care authority wrote.

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