MONTGOMERY, Ala. – With two legislative days remaining, a bill to close Alabama’s primary elections made it one step closer to the finish line Tuesday morning.
After a public hearing, the Senate Committee on County and Municipal Government approved House Bill 541, sponsored by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, by a vote of 7-2. The only no votes came from the two Democrats serving on the committee.
Three people spoke in favor of the bill, and seven spoke against it.
Yarbrough’s bill limits participation in primary elections to Alabamians registered with a political party. Under the bill, Alabamians would choose their political party affiliation when they register to vote. If they don’t want to register with a political party, voters can remain “unaffiliated” but couldn’t vote in primaries.
Voters could change their political party as many times as they would like between elections, up until 60 days before a contest. This “blackout window” exists so the secretary of state can provide the list of registered voters to county probate judges within the legally mandated period before an election.
The House passed the bill last month by a vote of 63-35 after pushback from both sides of the aisle during the floor debate. Six Republicans joined Democrats in voting no.
Carol Jahns, secretary of the Alabama Republican Party, spoke in favor of the bill. She said it will help “restore order, clarity and trust to our elections.”
“Primary elections are not public free-for-alls, they are the mechanism by which political parties select its own nominees,” Jahns said. “When the process is open to those with no real commitment to the party, it ceases to be a reflection of shared tenets and becomes an open invitation to manipulation and possible intentional interference.”
The state party has called the bill a legislative priority. Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, and GOP gubernatorial candidate U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville have previously expressed their support for the bill.
Speakers against the bill argued that closed primaries would disenfranchise independent voters and make it more difficult for people to vote in general.
Sonny Brasfield, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, also opposed the bill because of the additional burden it would put on counties, which administer and pay for most Alabama elections.
David Donaldson of Homewood offered “a conservative’s objection.” He questioned the need for the bill, especially as partisan divides are growing across the country.
“At a time when the GOP in Alabama continues to enjoy unprecedented power, what is now so broken that it has to be fixed by abolishing the system from which the party has derived so much success?” Donaldson said. “I find that sort of mind- boggling, so I’m mystified by this effort to change after so much success.”
Recent polling from 3D Strategic Research shows significant Republican voter opposition to the bill. Fifty-seven percent of Republican primary voters said Alabamians should be able to choose which primary they vote in without registering with a party, according to their survey of 400 Republican primary voters in late March.
Yarbrough said he introduced the bill to ensure that primaries help to elect candidates who most reflect a party’s platform and to curb “crossover voting.” He defined crossover voting as Democrats choosing to vote in the Republican primary for the candidate they view as weaker in an effort to give a Democrat a better chance of winning the general election.
3D’s survey found that this is rare.
“Among the nearly 1 million voters who have voted in any of the last 3 statewide Republican primaries in Alabama, just 5% have voted in at least 1 Democratic primary,” their memo reads. “This shows that fears of large-scale Democratic infiltration into Republican primaries is not reflected in actual voting behavior.”
Sen. Lance Bell, R-Riverside, said that hardline conservatives in his district have expressed strong opposition to closing primaries
“I’m telling you, this is emotional for me. I’ve been part of the Republican Party for a long time,” Bell said, addressing Yarbrough. “I’ve always voted Republican because I didn’t know any different. In our county, that’s all we have. I’m having a hard time with this. I’m having a hard time calling these people back and talking to them and trying to talk to them, and how do I change their mind on the things they’re telling me? And I’ve been asking for that answer, and I can’t get it.”
Bell ultimately voted to advance the bill.
Sens. Linda Coleman-Madison and Merika Coleman, both Democrats from Birmingham, also expressed strong opposition to the bill.
They argued that closed primaries would hurt voters who don’t identify with either party. Coleman-Madison called it “a bad bill.”
“For me, I don’t understand. If you’re winning, why do you change the process that you’ve been winning in?” Coleman said. “Republicans control every branch of government in the state of Alabama… It is crazy to me that folks that are winning at this level now want to change the playing field. So I hope y’all pass it actually. I hope you do because what it does is it’s gonna hurt you all more than it’s gonna hurt us.”
If passed, the bill would become effective on Jan. 1, 2027. It would not affect the 2026 primary election on May 19. Voters would still not be able to change parties between the primary and any related runoff elections. That is the case under current law.
The bill is now ready for consideration on the Senate floor.
Yarbrough said that he believes there is “an opportunity” for the bill to pass in the Senate.
“I think we’ve seen throughout this session that legislative priorities happen when people want them to happen,” Yarbrough said. “And so the question I would simply ask to my fellow members… is this a priority? Do we believe this is important?”
There are two days remaining in the legislative session.