I stand with 21 Republican probate judges from across Alabama to support Judge Reese McKinney as the next Secretary of State.

We made our endorsement this week and I want to share some of the endorsement with you:

Judge McKinney is the former probate judge from Montgomery County, serving 14 years. Probate judges are the chief election officials in the counties they represent. McKinney served as Montgomery County probate judge from 1998 to 2012, and has touted that experience throughout his campaign for secretary of state.

Alabama law gives the secretary of state more than 1,000 different duties and virtually all of them involve processing and filing documents that are public records. But the office’s most public function is that of supervising the state’s elections.

“Reese McKinney is committed to ensuring that Alabama’s elections are honest and fair and that the only votes counted are the ones that are legally cast,” said Crenshaw County Probate Judge Jim Perdue, a former president of the Alabama Probate Judges’ Association who also competed in the June Republican primary election for secretary of state. “Because of his deep experience and knowledge, Reese McKinney won’t need on-the-job training to carry out the important duty of running our election system.”

Because the secretary of state works closely with each of the 68 probate judges across Alabama, Judge McKinney has said he believes the endorsements will help convince voters that he is the candidate most qualified to protect Alabama elections from fraud and abuse.

“As a lifelong Republican, my conservative credentials and commitment to our party’s values and ideals cannot be questioned,” McKinney said. “I am the only candidate who can be trusted to protect Alabama’s photo voter ID requirement from the attacks of Barack Obama and his Justice Department liberals, and I’ll ensure that our fighting military men and women deployed overseas will have their voices heard through timely absentee balloting.”

The other Republican probate judges who offered their endorsements to McKinney’s campaign were Al Booth, Autauga County, Bobby Martin of Chilton County, Mike Bowling of St. Clair County, Valerie Davis of Clarke County, Kirk Day of Cherokee County, John Enslen of Elmore County, David Money of Henry County, Leon Archer of Tallapoosa County, Shelia Moore of Winston County, Jerry Pow of Bibb County, Ronnie Osborn of DeKalb County, Alice Martin of Calhoun County, Fred Hamic of Geneva County, Greg Cain of Morgan County, Steve Blair of Coffee County, Sharon Michalic of Dale County, Chris Green of Blount County, Dianne Branch of Clay County, Nick Williams of Washington County, Wes Allen of Pike County, and Patrick Davenport of Houston County.

I know Judge McKinney is a conservative leader who will protect the integrity of our elections. Judge McKinney possesses the experience needed to manage the office of Secretary of State with honesty and integrity. Because of that, I’m delighted to join with my fellow probate judges in encouraging voters to cast their ballots for Judge McKinney for Secretary of State in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff.

Pike County Probate Judge

Wes Allen