State Primaries Reset to June, 2008

Legislation that inadvertently moved the state’s primaries to Feb. 5 along with the presidential primaries has been “fixed” by Alabama Code Commissioner Jerry Bassett.

Last year, our state legislature set February 5, 2008 as the date for our state’s presidential primaries. In the process, the legislation also unintentionally moved our primaries for state elections from June to the February 5 date. Many expected the legislature this year to re-visit the legislation to set the date of the Alabama state primaries back to June.

Instead, Alabama’s Code Commissioner has exercised the authority to correct errors in legislation so that the wording of the legislation matches the intent of the legislature in passing the legislation. The dates of the state primaries that were inadvertently changed have already been corrected and set back to June.

This comes from someone in the Attorney General’s office who is “absolutely familiar” with the situation and who also emphasizes that this in no way represents an official legal opinion of the Attorney General’s office. I have been unable to reach Mr. Bassett on this matter. Mr. Bassett adds that changes made by the Code Commissioner become official when the legislature passes a Consolidation Bill, typically introduced at the beginning of the legislative session, that recognizes that what the Commissioner has done is in fact law.

The legislature is expected to re-consider the February 5 date for the presidential primaries because of Mardi Gras in Mobile. Any change (to February 5 or any other date) will not be official until it is cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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