Your secretary of state at work

With the federal deadline for Alabama to have a new statewide voter registration system in place set to arrive in three weeks, Secretary of State Nancy Worley, a Democrat, still hasn't picked a company to implement the system. Well, to be fair, she did pick a company over the summer, but it wasn't the one that a bipartisan advisory committee recommended. Then, a couple of months later, she tossed out the deal entirely.

The frustration is growing on local levels. The state's probate judges are thinking about suing Worley, and a Madison County registrar said she doubts a new system could be operating by the June primaries. State Rep. Neal Morrison, D-Cullman, on the melancholy affair: "It's just a messed-up situation, to be candid."