Alabama Voters Cast Ballots Amid Local Outages

Polling places in south Alabama faced power and voting machine problems on midterm election day.

Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Elections

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of a modest civic building with a still flag under a pale sky, evoking the state's midterm voting. — Voters across South Alabama cast ballots Tuesday in the midterm election, as a power outage and a voting-machine failure disrupted polling places in Mobile and Baldwin counties. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Voters across South Alabama cast ballots Tuesday in the midterm election, which will decide the state's next governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. A power outage affected a polling place at the St. Pius Catholic Church Family Life Center on Sage Avenue in Mobile County, and a voting machine was down at the Daphne Civic Center in Baldwin County.

Why it matters

The midterm contest will fill several statewide offices, making reliable polling operations central to the election's integrity. Officials said voting machines have backup batteries and that a generator was being brought to the Mobile County site.

Polls close at 7 p.m. local time across the affected counties. Officials did not report how many voters were affected by the outage or the machine problem.

The players

Alabama Secretary of State

The Alabama Secretary of State oversees statewide elections and will post statewide results on the agency's website.

The details

Probate Court personnel tested ballot counters, accessibility machines, and ballot marking devices before the election. Voters could still submit ballots at the Daphne Civic Center despite the machine outage, and a generator was being brought to the Mobile County polling location.

Tuesday morning, November 3, 2026: power and voting machine outages reported at polling sites.
Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 7 p.m.: polls close.

Seasonal Patterns

Alabama's midterm results are handled county by county through probate judges, so equipment problems at individual sites are reported locally before statewide totals are posted by the Secretary of State.

Voters whose polling place had an outage should check with their county probate office for the status of their site. Results will be posted on county probate judge websites and the Alabama Secretary of State's website as counts are finalized.

The takeaway

Equipment problems at polling sites are usually handled on election day, but voters can confirm results through official county and state websites once counting is complete.