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Rule 506 Political vote.

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Rule Text

(a) General rule of privilege. Every person has a privilege to refuse to disclose the tenor of such person’s vote at a political election conducted by secret ballot.

(b) Exceptions. This privilege does not apply if the vote was cast illegally or if disclosure is compellable pursuant to election laws.

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

When you vote in a secret ballot election, you have the right to keep how you voted private. No one can force you to tell a court, or anyone else in a legal proceeding, who or what you voted for. This protects the privacy of your vote just like it's protected at the ballot box.

There are two situations where this privacy right does not apply. First, if the vote itself was illegal, you cannot use this privilege to hide that fact. Second, if election laws specifically require you to disclose your vote in certain circumstances, those laws override this privilege. Outside of these exceptions, your vote stays private and cannot be forced out of you in court.

Committee Notes

Advisory Committee’s Notes

Section (a). General rule of privilege. Alabama has long recognized that the tenor of one’s vote, lawfully cast, is privileged from disclosure. Rule 506 is intended to continue that privilege unchanged. See Black v. Pate, 130 Ala. 514, 30 So. 434 (1901); C. Gamble, McElroy’s Alabama Evidence § 361.03 (4th ed. 1991); J. Colquitt, Alabama Law of Evidence § 5.8 (1990). The rule is based upon Unif.R.Evid. 506. The privilege applies only to votes cast in governmental elections.

Section (b). Exceptions. There are two exceptions to the privilege protecting the tenor of a secret ballot. (1) In all elections, the privacy of the vote may be invaded if it is shown that the vote was cast illegally. This principle is recognized under preexisting Alabama practice, by both statutory law and case law. See Ala. Code 1975, § 17-15-3 (a statute illustrating this principle as applied in general elections); Black v. Pate, 130 Ala. 514, 30 So. 434 (1901). Compare Ex parte Bullen, 236 Ala. 56, 181 So. 498 (1938). (2) Even without a showing of illegality, however, the disclosure of one’s vote may be rendered compellable by election laws. As of the date the committee proposed this rule for adoption, the only Alabama election law that compelled disclosure was the statute regarding the compellability of disclosure regarding a vote in a primary election when the vote is inquired about in the contest of a nomination. Ala. Code 1975, § 17-16-75.

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Last updated: September 2026

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