Code of Alabama

Ala. Code § 17-13-7 (2026)

Persons Entitled to Vote; Voter to Certify Political Party Preference by Signing Poll List.

✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026

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(a) All persons who are qualified electors under the general laws of the State of Alabama and who are also members of a political party and entitled to participate in such primary election under the rules of the party shall be entitled to vote therein and shall receive the official primary ballot of that political party, and no other; but every governing body of a party shall have the right, power, and authority to fix and prescribe the political or other qualifications of its own members and shall, in its own way, declare and determine who shall be entitled and qualified to vote in such primary election or to be candidates therein or to otherwise participate in such political parties and primaries. The qualifications of electors entitled to vote in such primary election shall not necessarily be the same as the qualifications for electors entitled to become candidates therein. Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prohibit any state executive committee of a party from fixing such qualifications as it may deem necessary for persons desiring to become candidates for nomination to offices at a primary election.

(b) A political party may require all poll lists for primary elections to state at the top thereof that by participating in the primary election a voter shall indicate a preference for the party holding the primary, and will support the nominees of that party in the general election, and that he or she is qualified under the rules of such party to vote in its primary election. No person shall be eligible to participate in the primary unless he or she signs the poll list and thereby certifies to the truth of the statement.

(Acts 1975, No. 1196, p. 2349, §13; §17-16-14; amended and renumbered by Act 2006-570, p. 1331, §59.)

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1980–2016 · leading case: Drake v. Alabama Repub. Party, 209 So. 3d 1118 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016).

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Drake v. Alabama Repub. Party, 209 So. 3d 1118 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016). · cites it 4× “Under Ala.Code § 17-13-7, the Defendant retains the right to decide, ‘in its own way,’ who ‘shall be entitled and qualified to vote in such primary election or to be candidates therein.”

Roe v. Mobile Cnty. Appointment Bd., 676 So. 2d 1206 (Ala. 1995). “…§ 17-13-4; (4) sealing and delivering poll lists and votes, § 17-13-6; (5) certifying votes and filing certificates, § 17-13-7; (6) posting certificates of results, § 17-13-8; (7) sealing and delivering certificates of results, § 17-13-10; and (8) making and delivering copies…”

Hale Cnty. v. United States, 496 F. Supp. 1206 (D.D.C. 1980). “Ala.Code §§ 17-13-7, 17-16-11, 17-16-22; Tr.”

Mississippi State Democratic Party v. Barbour, 491 F. Supp. 2d 641 (N.D. Miss. 2007). “Other states appearing to have facially closed primary systems include: Alabama, Ala.Code § 17-13-7; Illinois, Ill. Comp. Stat.”

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