It’s time: Alabamians go to polls for critical midterm elections

Voters across Alabama go to the polls Tuesday to elect officials, legislators and judges in over 160 federal, state and local elections.

Alabamians will choose their first new governor in nearly 10 years, with Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville, the state’s senior U.S. Senator, facing Democratic nominee Doug Jones, his predecessor on Capitol Hill. 

All seven U.S. House districts are contested, and four of them have different boundaries than the 2024 election. The U.S. Senate seat is also contested. There are four statewide constitutional amendments on the ballot. 

Sample ballots for all 67 counties can be found on the Secretary of State’s website. Voters can find which legislative district they reside in here. 

Alabama Reflector’s voter guide, breaking down each statewide, federal and legislative race, can be found here.

The ballot

Tuesday’s election is a rematch of Jones and Tuberville’s 2020 Senate race where Tuberville won by 20 points. Alabama is considered a solidly Republican state. But three recent polls showed Tuberville ahead of Jones by smaller margins than 2020. 

Two polls released on Oct. 20 were Republican leaning: The Alabama Poll, run by Michael Lowry, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, and a poll conducted by the right-leaning Cygnal for Alabama Daily News and Gray Television. Each found 51% of respondents said they would likely vote for Tuberville, and 39% for Jones, leaving about 9% undecided. The margin of error for each was 4% and 4.38%, respectively.

A poll released Wednesday by Democratic-leaning firm Blueprint Polling showed the race as a toss-up. It surveyed 695 likely Alabama voters, 48% of whom indicated support for Tuberville and 45% for Jones, with 7% undecided. The poll has a 3.72% margin of error. 

Of the seven U.S. House races, Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District in southeast Alabama has drawn the most national attention. After the U.S. Supreme Court this spring weakened the Voting Rights Act in a case known as Louisiana v. Callais, the Alabama Legislature reverted to a 2023 congressional map, previously struck down as racially discriminatory, for the 2026 election. The map change triggered a special primary election in August after a special session of the Legislature. 

The 2023 map reduced the Black voting-age population in the 2nd district from 48.7% to 39.9%. It was considered an opportunity district for Black Alabamians in 2024, leading to the election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Montgomery. His election marked the first time in the state’s history voters sent two Black Alabamians to Congress. 

Rep. Rhett Marques, R-Enterprise, who was a candidate in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District before the special primary, has been a state legislator for eight years. He won the Aug. 11 special primary election with more than 50% of votes in a field of six Republicans. 

The new district was rated R+7 and was expected to be a fairly easy Republican pick-up. But Figures outraised Marques, and the favorable national environment for Democrats prompted the non-partisan Center for Politics to rapidly shift the race in favor of the incumbent over the last week and a half. The center on Monday moved the race from “Toss up” to “Leans Democratic” in its final ratings. 

Each party hopes to pick up some seats in the state Legislature, focusing in Madison and Montgomery counties, and the Birmingham area. There are also 16 open seats in the Legislature due to retirements, lawmakers seeking other offices or incumbents losing primaries, but not all are contested. 

Across both chambers, six independent candidates qualified for five districts. All 140 legislative seats are on the ballot, but only 17 Senate and 36 House seats are contested with state-qualified candidates.

Each constitutional office and federal legislative race is also contested. 

Voters will also decide on four statewide constitutional amendments. There are additional amendments that only apply to specific counties, which can be found on respective sample ballots. 

Although Alabama does not have early in-person voting, voters can cast an absentee ballot through the mail. Absentee voting is up in some of the state’s larger counties. More than 3,000 voters applied for an absentee ballot in Baldwin County, and nearly 2,600 returned their ballot as of Monday morning, according to the Baldwin County Circuit Clerk’s office. In 2022, about 2,200 voters cast an absentee ballot in the coastal county, according to the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office. 

More than 4,100 voters applied for an absentee ballot in Montgomery County, and more than 3,500 returned their ballot as of Monday afternoon, according to the Montgomery County Circuit Clerk’s office. In 2022, about 2,500 voters cast an absentee ballot in the Capitol’s county, according to the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office. 

A message seeking comment with Secretary of State Wes Allen was left Monday morning. 

How to vote

When do polls open?

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. 

Where do I find my polling place?

The Alabama Secretary of State’s website allows you to check voter registration and the location of your polling place. You can find it here.

What do I need to vote?

Voters must present a valid photo ID before voting. Valid forms of ID include: 

• Alabama driver’s license (not expired or expired less than 60 days)
• Alabama Law Enforcement Agency digital driver’s license
• Alabama Non-Driver ID (not expired or expired less than 60 days)
• Alabama Photo Voter ID card
• State-issued ID (Alabama or any other state)
• Federal-issued ID
• U.S. Passport
• Employee ID from the federal government; state of Alabama; county; municipality, board or other entity of Alabama
• Student or employee ID from a public or private post-secondary educational institution in Alabama or other states (including colleges, universities, postgraduate technical and professional schools)
• Digital student or employee ID from a public or private post-secondary educational institution in Alabama or other states (including colleges, universities, postgraduate technical and professional schools)
• Military ID
• Tribal ID

What happens after Tuesday?

The candidate with the most votes will be the officeholder for that office’s term. For state offices, that is four years. For candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives, that is two years, and six years for the U.S. Senate.