Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

AP: Alabama Secretary of State among election skeptics slow to get sweeping changes

Alabama Secretary of State, Wes Allen speaks during the inauguration ceremony on the steps of the Alabama State Capital Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Montgomery, Ala.. Republicans in a handful of red states won their campaigns for secretary of state last year after claiming they would make sweeping changes to keep fraud out of elections. So far, their efforts to make good on their promises are a mixed bag _ in part because they face opposition from lawmakers in their own party. (AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)
Butch Dill/AP
/
FR111446 AP
Alabama Secretary of State, Wes Allen speaks during the inauguration ceremony on the steps of the Alabama State Capital Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Montgomery, Ala.. Republicans in a handful of red states won their campaigns for secretary of state last year after claiming they would make sweeping changes to keep fraud out of elections. So far, their efforts to make good on their promises are a mixed bag _ in part because they face opposition from lawmakers in their own party. (AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)

An Associated Press analysis shows mixed results for Republican Secretaries of State who promised major changes aimed at keeping fraud out of elections. In some cases, because their rhetoric has bumped up against skepticism from members of their own party. Newly elected secretaries of state in Alabama, Indiana and Wyoming who had questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election are now facing the task of backing up their campaign pledges in states where Republicans have already set strict election laws.

While Alabama's Wes Allen and Wyoming's Chuck Gray were not on the America First coalition's candidate list, they also raised doubts about the 2020 vote. Allen repeated a debunked claim calling the thirty-one state Electronic Registration Information Center organization a "Soros-funded, leftist group." That’s a reference to liberal billionaire George Soros. The voter registration data-sharing partnership is designed to maintain accurate voter rolls by identifying people who have moved or died. It's funded by states after receiving initial startup support from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Allen's first official act was to withdraw Alabama from the group, citing privacy concerns.

Voters in politically pivotal swing states such as Arizona, Michigan and Nevada rejected candidates seeking to oversee elections who had echoed former President Donald Trump's false claims about the 2020 presidential election. But newly elected secretaries of state in Alabama, Indiana and Wyoming who had questioned the legitimacy of that election won easily in those Republican-dominated states. They are now facing the task of backing up their campaign pledges in states where Republicans have already set strict election laws.

A large segment of Republicans, 58%, still believe Biden's 2020 victory was not legitimate, according to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Pat Duggins is news director for Alabama Public Radio.
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.