Code of Alabama

Ala. Code § 17-9-3 (2026)

Persons Entitled to Have Names Printed on Ballots; Failure of Secretary of State to Certify Nominations.

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

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section JustiaAla. Code CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) The following individuals shall be entitled to have their names printed on the appropriate ballot for the general election, provided they are otherwise qualified for the office they seek:

(1) All candidates who have been put in nomination by primary election and certified in writing by the chair and secretary of the canvassing board of the party holding the primary and filed with the judge of probate of the county, in the case of a candidate for county office, and the Secretary of State in all other cases, on the day next following the last day for contesting the primary election for that office if no contest is filed. If a contest is filed, then the certificate for the contested office must be filed on the day next following the date of settlement or decision of the contest.

(2) All candidates who have been put in nomination by any caucus, convention, mass meeting, or other assembly of any political party or faction and certified in writing by the chair and secretary of the nominating caucus, convention, mass meeting, or assembly and filed with the judge of probate, in the case of a candidate for county office, and the Secretary of State in all other cases, on or before 5:00 p.m. on the date of the first primary election as provided for in Section 17-13-3.

(3) Each candidate who has been requested to be an independent candidate for a specified office by written petition signed by electors qualified to vote in the election to fill the office when the petition has been filed with the judge of probate, in the case of a county office and with the Secretary of State in all other cases, on or before 5:00 p.m. on the date of the first primary election as provided for in Section 17-13-3. The number of qualified electors signing the petition shall equal or exceed three percent of the qualified electors who cast ballots for the Office of Governor in the last general election for the state, county, district, or other political subdivision in which the candidate seeks to qualify.

(b) The Secretary of State, not later than 69 days before the general election, shall certify to the judge of probate of each county in the state, in the case of an officer to be voted for by the electors of the whole state, and to the judges of probate of the counties composing the circuit or district in the case of an officer to be voted for by the electors of a circuit or district, upon suitable blanks to be prepared by him or her for that purpose, the fact of nomination or independent candidacy of each nominee or independent candidate or candidate of a party who did not receive more than 20 percent of the entire vote cast in the last general election preceding the primary who has qualified to appear on the general election ballot. The judge of probate shall then prepare the ballot with the names of each candidate qualified under this section printed on the ballot. The judge of probate may not print on the ballot the name of any independent candidate who was a candidate in the primary election of that year and the name of any nominee of a political party who was a candidate for the nomination of a different political party in the primary election of that year.

(Code 1896, §§1606, 4674; Code 1907, §§372, 6773; Code 1923, §§462, 3891; Acts 1935, No. 188, p. 238; Acts 1935, No. 424, p. 894; Code 1940, T. 17, §§145, 287; Acts 1945, No. 79, p. 76; Acts 1971, No. 2324, p. 3746; Acts 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 69, p. 1493, §§2, 4; Acts 1982, No. 82-611, p. 1109, §1; Acts 1992, No. 92-152, p. 262, §1; Acts 1995, No. 95-786, p. 1872, §1; Act 2001-1131, 4th Sp. Sess., p. 1211, §1; §17-7-1; amended and renumbered by Act 2006-570, p. 1331, §44; Act 2014-6, p. 21, §1; Act 2024-168, §1.)

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 2014–2018 · leading case: James Hall . Sec'y, State of Alabama, 902 F.3d 1294 (11th Cir. 2018).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

James Hall . Sec'y, State of Alabama, 902 F.3d 1294 (11th Cir. 2018). · cites it 2× “See Ala. Code § 17-9-3 (a)(3). There were only about four months between Congressman Bonner’s announcement and the deadline for candidates to submit the required signatures.”

Hall v. Merrill, 212 F. Supp. 3d 1148 (2016). · cites it 3× “1975 Ala. Code § 17-9-3 (a)(l). Independent candidates, on the other hand, must seek to have their names placed on the ballot through signature petitions.”

McInnish v. Bennett, 150 So. 3d 1045 (Ala. 2014). · cites it 12× “1998-00200 (August 12,1998), which states: “The Secretary of State does not have an obligation to evaluate all of the qualifications of the nominees of the political parties and independent candidates for state offices prior to certifying such nominees and candidates to the…”

De La Fuente v. Merrill, 214 F. Supp. 3d 1241 (2016). “Ala. Code § 17-9-3 (b). In this way, the law is not so different from Alabama’s requirement that independent candidates submit a certain number of signatures to qualify for office — an unquestionably constitutional requirement, see Munro v.”

James Hall . Sec'y, State of Alabama (11th Cir. 2018). “See Ala. Code § 17-9-3 (a)(3). There were only about four months between Congressman Bonner’s announcement and the deadline for candidates to submit the required signatures.”

— Ala. Code § 17-9-3(a) — 1 case

McInnish v. Bennett, 150 So. 3d 1045 (Ala. 2014). “1998-00200 (August 12,1998), which states: “The Secretary of State does not have an obligation to evaluate all of the qualifications of the nominees of the political parties and independent candidates for state offices prior to certifying such nominees and candidates to the…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.