2006 Alabama Code - Section 17-9-4 — Installation.

Where voting machines have been adopted for a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, or for a portion of the county, municipality, or other political subdivision, the county commission or the municipal governing body shall, as soon as practicable and in no case later than six months after the adoption thereof, provide for each voting ward, precinct, or beat designated, one or more approved voting machines, in complete working order, and shall thereafter preserve and keep them in repair. In each voting place in which voting machines are used, the county commission or municipal governing body shall provide by rental, lease, or purchase, at least one mechanical voting machine for each 600 registered voters or fraction thereof, or at least one electronic voting machine for each 1,200 registered voters or fraction thereof. In any municipal run-off election involving 50 percent or fewer races than were on the ballot during the general election, a municipal governing body shall not be required to provide more than one ballot box for every 600 qualified electors when paper ballots are used, or more than one voting machine for every 1,200 qualified electors where mechanical voting machines are used, or more than one voting machine for every 2,400 qualified electors where electronic voting machines are used.

The county commission or municipal governing body may, at its discretion, elect not to install voting machines in a ward, precinct, or beat having less than 100 registered voters. The adoption of the use of voting machines by a county or municipality, upon a petition signed by a majority of the registered voters in the ward, precinct, or beat, the county commission or municipal governing body may be required to install voting machines in the ward or precinct or beat for use in an election held after 90 days from the filing of the petition. Upon the installation of voting machines in a voting place, the use of paper ballots shall be discontinued, except as otherwise provided. Wherever, by reason of a constitutional or other legal debt limitation, it shall be impossible for a county or municipality to provide voting machines by either rental, lease, or purchase for each election district, then it shall provide as many machines as it shall be possible to procure, and, as soon thereafter as possible, shall provide the remainder of the machines required hereunder. The machines provided shall be first installed in wards, precincts, or beats having the largest number of registered voters.

(Acts 1939, No. 292, p. 443; Code 1940, T. 17, §94; Acts 1993, No. 93-760, p. 1514, §4; Act 2003-400, p. 1150, §1.)