(a) The following persons shall be entitled to have their names printed on the appropriate ballot for the general election, provided they are otherwise qualified for the office they seek:

(1) All candidates who have been put in nomination by primary election and certified in writing by the chair and secretary of the canvassing board of the party holding the primary and filed with the probate judge of the county, in the case of a candidate for county office, and the Secretary of State in all other cases, on the day next following the last day for contesting the primary election for that office if no contest is filed. If a contest is filed, then the certificate for the contested office must be filed on the day next following the date of settlement or decision of the contest.

(2) All candidates who have been put in nomination by any caucus, convention, mass meeting, or other assembly of any political party or faction and certified in writing by the chair and secretary of the nominating caucus, convention, mass meeting, or assembly and filed with the probate judge, in the case of a candidate for county office, and the Secretary of State in all other cases, on or before 5:00 P.M. on the date of the first primary election as provided for in Section 17-16-6.

(3) Each candidate who has been requested to be an independent candidate for a specified office by written petition signed by electors qualified to vote in the election to fill the office when the petition has been filed with the probate judge, in the case of a county office and with the Secretary of State in all other cases, on or before 5:00 P.M. on the date of the first primary election as provided for in Section 17-16-6. The number of qualified electors signing the petition shall equal or exceed three percent of the qualified electors who cast ballots for the office of Governor in the last general election for the state, county, district, or other political subdivision in which the candidate seeks to qualify.

(b) With regard to the 1992 election cycle for candidates for the United States House of Representatives only, and only if the Legislature adopts an approved congressional reapportionment plan in the 1992 Regular Session, candidates shall be certified or qualified on or before 5:00 P.M. 29 days before the first primary election.

(c) The Secretary of State must, not later than 45 days after the second primary, certify to the probate judge of each county in the state, in the case of an officer to be voted for by the electors of the whole state, and to the probate judges of the counties composing the circuit or district in the case of an officer to be voted for by the electors of a circuit or district, upon suitable blanks to be prepared by him or her for that purpose, the fact of nomination or independent candidacy of each nominee or independent candidate or candidate of a party who did not receive more than 20 percent of the entire vote cast in the last general election preceding the primary who has qualified to appear on the general election ballot. The probate judge shall then prepare the ballot with the names of each candidate qualified under the provisions of this section printed on the ballot. The probate judge is prohibited from causing to be printed on the ballot the name of any independent candidate who was a candidate in the primary election of that year and the name of any nominee of a political party who was a candidate for the nomination of a different political party in the primary election of that year.

The probate judge shall cause to be preserved all certificates and petitions of nomination filed in his office under the provisions of this chapter for six months after the election for which such nominations are made.

Any person who suppresses any nomination which has been duly filed, shall be guilty of a felony, and, on conviction, must be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than five years.

The sheriff must give notice at least 30 days before each election by publication in some newspaper in the county, if any is published therein and, if not, by writings posted at the courthouse door and at three other public places in the county, of the time of holding and the offices to be filled by such election. Such notice shall consist only of the date of the election and the officers to be voted for or subjects to be voted on.

Every polling place shall open for voting at 7:00 A.M. and shall close at 7:00 P.M. and shall remain open for voting for not less than 12 consecutive hours. All polling places in the eastern time zone shall open and close under this section pursuant to eastern time except the county commissions in Chambers County and Lee County may by resolution provide for any polling place to be excluded from this sentence and to be open according to central time.

When paper ballots are used, the inspectors, clerks and returning officers appointed shall meet at the place of holding elections in the several precincts for which they have been appointed not later than 15 minutes before the hours of voting in the county commence and shall open the several polling places at the time designated.

After the polls have been opened, no adjournment or recess shall be taken until the certificate of the result of the election is signed.

The sheriff of each county, at the expense of the county or, in case of a municipal election, the mayor or other chief executive officer, at the expense of the municipality shall provide at each polling place in all municipalities of over 3,000 inhabitants, a room or covered enclosure and, in such room or covered enclosure, shall provide booths or compartments, one booth or compartment for each 100 or fraction of 100 over 50 electors registered in the ward or wards in such municipality for that election and shall furnish each booth or compartment with a shelf or table for the convenience of the electors in the preparation of their ballots. Each booth or compartment shall be so arranged that it will be impossible for one elector at a shelf or table in one compartment to see an elector at a shelf or table in another compartment in the act of marking his ballot. Each voting shelf or table shall be kept supplied with conveniences for marking the ballots. In all other voting places other than in municipalities of over 3,000 inhabitants, no booths or compartments shall be required.

The inspectors, before they commence receiving ballots, must cause it to be proclaimed aloud at the place of voting that the election is opened.

Any person voting at any county or state election who has not registered and taken and subscribed to the registration oath, must, on conviction, be fined not less than $100.00 nor more than $1,000.00, or imprisoned in the county jail, or sentenced to hard labor for the county for not less than one nor more than six months.

At all elections held within this state, the elector shall vote in the county and precinct of his or her residence and nowhere else and shall have registered as provided in this title. If any elector attempts to vote in any precinct other than that of his or her residence, his or her vote shall be rejected, except when casting a provisional ballot, as provided by law.

Electors whose names appear on the list of registered voters may vote without producing their registration certificate.

In every election held in this state, the voter himself shall sign his name on one of the poll lists or lists of persons who vote in the election, required by law to be maintained at each polling place; and no person shall record on this list the name of any voter for him, except where the voter, because of physical handicap, is unable to write his own name on the poll list; in which case an election official shall write the name of such voter on said list together with the cause of assistance and shall sign his own name on the poll list on the same line with the name of the voter. If the voter is unable to sign his name because of illiteracy, his name shall be written for him and the voter shall make his mark upon the poll list, in the presence of any of the election officials, and the election official witnessing the act shall record his name, as witness, on the same line with the name of the voter.

Any person who wilfully and intentionally signs on the poll list the name of any person other than himself, including any signing by mark, in violation of the provisions of this section, shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of not less than one nor more than five years.

The poll list shall be sealed in an envelope before the inspectors begin to count the vote and shall not be opened.

Any election officer or any other person who makes a copy of the poll list or any memoranda therefrom, or list of the persons voting, or the number of their ballots, or discloses the number of such voter's ballot, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be fined not less than $200.00.

Except as electors are admitted to vote and persons to assist them as herein provided, and except the sheriff or his deputy, the inspectors, returning officer, clerks of elections and watchers, no person shall be permitted within 30 feet of the polling place.

Any person who loiters in, around or about a polling place on election day for the purpose of discouraging qualified electors from entering the voting place, or from voting, or whoever having voted enters or stands in a line or file of voters waiting to vote, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than $25.00 nor more than $500.00.

In all primary and general elections of associate justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama, justices of the courts of appeals of Alabama, judges of the circuit and district courts and associate members of the public service commission, wherein two or more of such justices, judges or officers are to be elected at the same time, each of such places to be filled shall be designated by number.