The sharp eyed among you – which would not be me – will have noticed that yesterday I found the 2020 sample ballot and not the 2022 Primary Sample Ballot. These things happen – and it’s why government should be very limited in what it’s allowed to do since it can’t even put sample ballots where they belong in a timely fashion or notice of when to expect the ballot.

Okay, the real point is we hit a snag – and that’s going to happen from time to time. Sample ballots are supposed to be out ASAP but they can’t come out before the registration deadline for candidates. So a little more online searching and we find that the Alabama Democrat party is already accepting candidates but the Republicans won’t until January 4th. Evidently, they think they have time, given that Alabama’s primaries aren’t until May 24th of next year…

Well, that puts a crimp in things. But a candidate in Alabama can announce – and raise funds – a year in advance. So back to our search engine of choice, this time searching for “announced Alabama primary candidates”. And we get this:

That second one looks good but my security doesn’t like the link. What to do?

Alabama has a .com website – let’s see if any of the results have that address. Scrolling, scrolling… Why, yes, there is an article on al.com – so clicking and we get this:

Hmm, that doesn’t look helpful but wait, what have we here down at the very bottom? Why, I do believe it’s a mention of two candidates running against the incumbant governor!

Blanchard, who refers to herself by the nickname Lindy in her campaign materials, plans to challenge Gov. Kay Ivey. Tim James, son of former Gov. Fob James, also announced this week he plans to run against Ivey in 2022. Dean Odle and Stacy George have also announced their plans to run in the May 24 Republican primary.

Tuberville says Republican candidates in Alabama should ‘fight it out’

Lovely! Only … every other office to go. Hmm, what about the Secretary of State? Nope, too early. Let’s go back to our search.

Hmm, what’s this from the Alabama Farmer’s Federation? Why, they have already endorsed primary candidates in nearly every race – mighty convenient. Now, I prefer knowing who all is running before deciding but to be fair, most candidates have already announced – it’s just hard to find them all this early.

I now have two choices: wait for the sample ballot to come out in a month or two or start looking at the ones that are easiest to find. AFF has endorsed 25 candidates – for 25 different offices. If I wait, I’m going to have to look at an awful lot of people all at once. Now’s the time to get started!

So, with only a few minutes works, we’ve found three candidates (maybe five) for the Republican nomination for Governor of Alabama. States with earlier primaries will be even easier. Regardless, we now have the information we need to start learning about some actual candidates!

That wasn’t so bad, now was it?