Except as provided in Section 17-8-12, the State of Alabama shall reimburse a county for one half of all sums expended by the county in payment of expenses incurred in holding and conducting an election at which both amendments to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 affecting one or more counties or subdivisions thereof and amendments affecting the State of Alabama as a whole are voted upon.
Ala. Code § 17-16-5 (1975)