Alabama's House Just Voted to Ban Special Elections, But It's Definitely Not Because of Doug Jones

The bill, introduced and supported by Republicans, would allow the governor to appoint a replacement should one of Alabama’s two U.S. Senate seats become vacant, instead of allowing residents to do democracy and vote for their elected officials. Alabamans wouldn’t be able to vote for another senator until the next general election rolls around, whether that be one month or one year away.

But Republicans definitely did not do this as a big middle finger to Alabamans who voted to keep a child predator out of office, ha ha, why would you even think that? Despite the fact that the bill specifically targets U.S. Senate seats and no other nationwide office, the Montgomery Advertiser reports that its sponsor, Rep. Steve Clouse, would like us to believe that special elections are just too expensive for Alabama to handle and that, anyway, he wrote the bill back in May before anybody even knew who Doug Jones was. It’s safe to say you’ve successfully ameliorated concerns about the motivations behind this bill, Steve Clouse !!! !!

(If Clouse had his way, the person who would have appointed a permanent replacement for Jeff Sessions—Robert Bentley, the current governor’s predecessor—later went on to resign after facing impeachment, sexually harassing a senior adviser, and pleading guilty to two misdemeanor campaign finance crimes.)

Alabama would not, in fact, be in the minority should it adopt this policy. Thirty-six other states—including California, New York, Illinois, and Florida—allow governors to make an appointment to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy.