Alabama to add invisible security emblems to ballots
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen on Tuesday announced his latest effort to improve the security of his state’s elections — new security emblems that will be attached to all ballots starting next year.
In a press release, Allen said the emblems are invisible to the human eye and can only be detected by specialized equipment provided to election administrators in each of Alabama’s 67 counties. According to his office, it will be the first in the nation to use the technology.
“The implementation of this emblem system is taking our state’s election security to the highest level that it has ever been,” said Allen, who’s campaigning for lieutenant governor ahead of Alabama’s primaries next May.
As a further security measure, the placement and design of the emblems will change with each election cycle, according to the press release. His office did not immediately respond to an email asking how much the security emblems will cost the state.
Cost has been a key concern for Allen, a Republican, since he took office in 2023. He announced last week that he’ll cut $2 million in “wasteful” spending by the end of his term.
The largest savings come from a $1.2 million reduction to the state’s advertising budget for its Photo Voter ID program. All poll-goers in Alabama must show identification before they can vote. The law allows those without ID to receive a free one, for the purposes of voting, from the secretary of state’s office, local county board of registrars’ offices or mobile offices.
Allen also pushed successfully last year for legislation to eliminate an annual business filing requirement. The measure is expected to save the state $690,000 over three years.
Allen become a key figure in the elections world. His office created the Alabama Voter Integrity Database as an alternative to a widely used data-sharing consortium for verifying voter rolls called the Electronic Registration Information Center. AVID, which isn’t as sophisticated as ERIC, has nonetheless grown to 10 member states, chiefly Republican strongholds concerned with noncitizen voting.
