Ala. shattering absentee ballot records; people line up to vote at courthouse

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - We’re two weeks out from the election and people are lining up to vote absentee.

Counties are slammed as an unprecedented number of people in Alabama will vote absentee. Alabama has shattered its record with 147,000 successfully returned absentee ballots as of Tuesday.

“Deciding to vote absentee because I’d rather just get it out of the way," said Derion White, who stood outside the courthouse to vote absentee Tuesday.

Some people said would rather handle a line outside of the courthouse than the one on election day.

Secretary of State John Merrill says he’s never seen absentee voting lines like what he is saying in Alabama.

“Some people are concerned about if their voices were going to be mailed if they returned their ballot by mail," Merrill said.

Alabamians have the option to mail in their absentee ballots but some people call it a risk.

“I don’t trust what they’ve been doing with the mail," White said.

“I don’t trust to mail it in because what I’ve seen on the news a lot of them were just destroyed and I’m just not going to take that chance," Janet Spivey said as she stood in line.

“I think coming to the location and filling out my ballot, to me it feels more secure," said Riley Keagle.

Many counties only have two or three people working to process absentee ballots. Officials say it’s one reason why there are lines to vote absentee.

Alabamians have nine days to apply for an absentee ballot.

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