LaTosha Brown’s contest of the Alabama House District 67 run-off election results will be heard by the Alabama Democratic Party on July 17.

According to the party’s state office in Montgomery, there is no time frame for how long a panel of five people will hear the case, and no other information could be given by the party about the contest.

Brown is contesting her 138-vote defeat to Yusuf Salaam. She contends there were a number of irregularities at polls and some citizens were encouraged to “crossover” from the Republican primary into the Democratic runoff. The Democratic Party does not allow Republican primary voters to participate in a Democratic runoff.

But what happens between today and the July 17 hearing may turn out to be more intriguing and controversial than any party hearing.

Brown’s attorney, April England-Albright, has subpoenaed all election results from the Dallas County Sheriff and Probate Judge.

In the subpoena, issued on July 8, Sheriff Harris Huffman and Probate Judge Johnny Jones had “two days” to deliver all election results.

According to Albright’s subpoena, she has requested that all ballots, “voting makings,” voting machine computations or printouts, voter registration lists, lists of voters who voted in the Republican and Democratic Primary, lists of all voters who voted on June 4 and June 25, and any other documents relating to the June 4 primary and June 25 runoff elections be delivered to the law office of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders, Pettaway, Cambell and Albright.

“I’m not going to do it,” said Huffman. “My feeling is that this is a state party problem, and I don’t know who to turn the results over to.”

After Albright issued the subpoena, Circuit Judge Marvin Wiggins got involved. He ordered Huffman and Jones to turn over documents in one day.

“This is a party issue,” Jones said. “And I don’t think it’s something we can do in a day.”

Cartledge Blackwell, the attorney for Huffman, issued a 6-point response to Wiggins and Albright.

“… this court has no jurisdiction with regard to the contest of the… primary or runoff elections,” Blackwell’s response said.

In other items, Blackwell wrote that the state Democratic Party has control over primary elections; the court has no jurisdiction over election records; the judge’s order and preceding subpoena are “burdensome and oppressive” to the sheriff; and turning over the documents is a violation of public trust.

“My role is to maintain the security and integrity of the election records,” Huffman said. “I don’t even think I have the authority to relinquish those records.”

Huffman said there are 100 sealed boxes, “in a secure facility.”

According to Blackwell, there are “deep-seeded” problems with turning over election records to a law firm.

“That’s with any law firm, and it’s not personal,” he said.

Rather, Blackwell believes this is an issue of public trust.

“I am concerned about the sanctity of a person’s vote,” he said. “There must be ways to safeguard that.”

This is the second local election in Alabama where turning over ballots has become an issue.

In Hale County, a dispute arose over validity of ballots in a county commission race.

Hale County Probate Judge Leland Avery locked the ballots in a bank. The district attorney, the state Democratic Party and Wiggins all ordered Avery to hand over the records. Avery refused because he didn’t know who should receive the ballots.

Wiggins threatened to put Avery in prison for contempt of court, but the Alabama Supreme Court stayed Wiggins’ order. Now, Avery has filed suit asking a judge to determine who should get the records.

In the meantime, the bank holding the ballots in Greensboro was burned down and police believe the scorching of Peoples Bank in Greensboro was an arson. They are not sure if the arson had anything to do with the ballots.

Wiggins and Albright did not return phone calls to the Times-Journal.