The state attorney general's investigation of complaints about the June 3 primary election has spread to a third county with the seizure of voting records in Lowndes County.

Attorney General Troy King announced Monday that agents from his office had served subpoenas on Lowndes County election officials and seized records including all those pertaining to absentee ballots.

King said he took action in Lowndes County after learning about alleged improprieties. He previously seized records in Bullock and Perry counties after they reported unusually high levels of absentee ballots in the primary.

Secretary of State Beth Chapman, Alabama's chief election official, said two citizens from Lowndes County asked to meet with her last week about concerns in the central Alabama county. After talking with them and seeing the detailed information they had, Chapman took them to the attorney general's office.

"At that point, it was inevitable this would happen," she said after the subpoenas were served Monday.

She said Lowndes County has an unusually high level of registered voters: 10,183 out of 12,686 citizens. And it had an unusually high number of absentee ballots on June 3 with 727 votes.

Chapman noted that Birmingham's Jefferson County, Alabama's largest county with 405,736 registered voters, only had 365 absentee ballots.

Chapman said she has received complaints from other counties, including Jackson, Wilcox and Sumter counties, but the information was not as detailed as Lowndes County.

Alabama's next election is the runoff on July 15.

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The Secretary of State's office operates a toll-free number for voting complaints, (800) 827-VOTE, and a Web site is expected to be running later this week.

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