Ala. special amendment election nears

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Alabama voters should mark September 18 on their calendars. Polls will open that day for a Special Constitutional Amendment Election.

The amendment proposed addresses funding for the State General Fund Budget.

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide adequate funding for the State General Fund budget, to prevent the mass release of prisoners from Alabama prisons, and to protect critical health services to Alabama children, elderly, and mothers by transferring funds from the Alabama Trust Fund to the State General Fund beginning with the State's 2012-2013 fiscal year and concluding with the state's 2014-2015 fiscal year; to provide a new procedure for distributions made from the Alabama Trust Fund beginning 2012-2013 fiscal year; to create a County and Municipal Government Capital Improvement Trust Fund advisory committee; and to provide further distributions made from the County and Municipal Government Capital Improvement Trust Fund. (Proposed by Act No. 2012-490)

Absentee ballots for the special election are available now. They must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 13. Any registered voter can submit an absentee ballot for the following reasons:

• The voter is out of the county or state on election day.
• The voter has any physical illness or imfirmity which prvents the voter from attending the polls.
• The voter works a shift that has at least 10 hours, which coincide with the hours the polls are open at the voter's regular polling place.
• The voter is a student enrolled in school outside the county of personal residence.
• The voter is a member, a spouse or a dependent of a member of the United States Armed Forces, or is similarly qualified to vote absentee according to the Federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
• The voter has been appointed an election officer or named a poll watcher at a polling place other than the voter's regular polling district.

Applications for absentee voting are available at the Absentee Election Manger's Office in Mobile Government Plaza, 1st floor North Tower, 205 Government St., Mobile. Applications are also available on the probate court's website ( www.probate.mobilecountyal.gov/elections ).

If you are mailing applications, you cannot mail multiple applications in the same envelope. That is against Alabama law.

Emergency Absentee Ballots are also available if a registered voter requires emergency treatment of a licensed physician within five days of an election. Emergency Absentee Ballots can be returned by a person designated by the voter by 12 p.m. Tuesday, September 18. The attending physician must describe and certify the circumstances creating the emergency.