MONTGOMERY, Ala. – With three days left in the legislative session, a Senate committee will consider a bill to set up closed primary elections on Tuesday morning.
The committee meeting includes a public hearing on the bill. Committees typically do not vote on a bill immediately following public comments; however, a Tuesday vote is essentially the bill’s last chance to make it to the Senate floor. If it passes out of committee, the Senate could vote on the bill on Wednesday or Thursday, the final day of the 2026 session.
House Bill 541, sponsored by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, 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 chosen 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 – the chief election officers in Alabama’s 67 counties – within the legally mandated period before an election, Yarbrough said.
The House passed the bill last month by a vote of 63-35 after pushback from both sides of the aisle on the floor. Republican Reps. Terri Collins of Decatur, Tim Wadsworth of Arley, Phillip Rigsby of Huntsville, Bob Fincher of Woodland, Brett Easterbrook of Fruitdale and Russell Bedsole of Alabaster joined Democrats in voting no.
After warning that the bill could lead to Republicans losing seats in the Legislature, Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, amended the bill on the House floor to clarify that absentee ballot managers would not be responsible for registering voters’ party affiliation. Pringle, the second in command for House Republicans, ultimately voted in favor of the bill.
Republican opposition to the bill is backed up by recent polling of GOP voters on the issue.
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 a 3D Strategic Research poll of 400 Republican primary voters in late March.
Thirty-nine percent said voters should be required to register.
And 59% said since Alabama’s primaries are paid for by all taxpayers, all eligible voters, and not just party members, should have the right to participate in the primary of their choice, which would help make elections fairer and more representative.
In another question, 53% of voters agreed that keeping primaries open to all voters is good for the Republican Party because it allows the party to grow, bring in new voters and build broader support for Republican candidates.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9% in 95 out of 100 cases, 3D said.
Yarbrough, the bill’s sponsor, 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,” the polling reads. “This shows that fears of large-scale Democratic infiltration into Republican primaries is not reflected in actual voting behavior.”
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, as is the case under current law.
The committee will meet on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. in the Finance and Taxation Room in the State House.