Since the Presidential Preference Primary falls on Feb. 5 this year, which also is Fat Tuesday, state legislators have added Jan. 30 as an alternate date for voters in Baldwin and Mobile counties who may be occupied by Mardi Gras activities.

Baldwin County voters have the option of casting ballots Jan. 30 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Foley Civic Center. On Feb. 5 all precincts in the county will be open, Probate Judge Adrian Johns said.

Johns said three changes have been made in polling site:

• Residents who are designated to vote at Pine Grove School will vote at Pine Grove Fire Department;

• The Baldwin County Commission has dissolved the South River Park Church of God precinct in Barnwell and assigned those voters to the Fairhope Civic Center.

• Voters assigned to vote at Fairhope Civic Center will vote at the Nix Center only for the Feb. 5 election due to a Mardi Gras party slated Feb. 4. Johns said there wasn’t enough time to clean the facility and set up election machines and materials by 7 a.m. the next day.

In addition, the Baldwin County Commission will meet in an emergency session Friday to relocate voting precinct No. 45 from the Spanish Fort School to another location to be determined Friday.

Results of the Jan. 30 vote will be sealed until completion of the Feb. 5 vote, Johns said.

Mobile County election officials will open all 97 polling sites Jan. 30. On Feb. 5, a single polling site, the Office of the Revenue Commissioner, will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In 2006, the Alabama Legislature adopted Feb. 5 as the date for Alabama’s presidential primaries. Later, legislators discovered that date fell on Fat Tuesday and added legislation providing an additional day of voting for Mobile and Baldwin counties and funding for the added expense, Johns said.

Baldwin County absentee manager Jane Still said requests for absentee voting applications “have been trickling in” since the first of December.

“People are just beginning to realize voting will be a little different this time,” Still said.

The cutoff date to request an absentee ballot is Jan. 24 at 4:30 p.m.

Still is based at the Baldwin County Courthouse in Bay Minette. She also will be available at the following sites to distribute absentee ballot applications and accept ballots at the following locations from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except for a lunch break from noon to 1 p.m.: the Commission conference room at the Fairhope satellite courthouse each Tuesday until Jan. 29; the Foley satellite courthouse’s Commission office each Wednesday until Jan. 23; and the Commission’s small conference room at the Robertsdale annex Jan. 10 and Jan. 17.

Absentee ballots must be hand delivered to Still or received via mail by Feb. 4 at 4:30 p.m.

For more information about absentee voting, call Still at (251) 937-0261, or email her at absentee.elections@co.baldwin.al.us.

To download absentee voter applications or other election information, go to co.baldwin.al.us. Click on Probate, then elections, then forms.

Additional information on the early election cycle is available at earlyvotingday.com.