It’s Back to the Polls Across Alabama. Voters to Decide Party Nominees
BirminghamWatch Election Team
Voters go to the polls Tuesday to decide several races left up in the air after the June primary, including the Republican nominations for lieutenant governor, attorney general and several appellate judgeships, along with Democratic nominations for two Jefferson County Commission seats, the sheriff’s office and several court positions.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. statewide.
County and state election officials are predicting light turnout at the polls.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has predicted turnout statewide of 15 percent to 18 percent, compared to June’s 24 percent turnout. And Jefferson County Board of Registrars Chairman Barry Stephenson said turnout in the county also is expected to be down from June.
He also pointed out that bad weather never helps turnout. Several areas across the state are predicted to have rain periodically during the day with flash flooding possible, but no severe storms are predicted.
Stephenson does not anticipate any major concerns related to crossover voting rules.
A May 2017 law prevents voters from voting in the primary on one party’s ballot, but then crossing over to vote another party’s ballot in a primary runoff. During general elections, voters are free to vote for candidates from either party.
“This will be the second election that the crossover voting has been in effect, said Stephenson, “and it really wasn’t that much of an issue the first time with the special U.S. Senate election. So there might be a handful of instances that pop up, but we’re prepared to handle it.”
Who’s on the Ballot?
BirminghamWatch has prepared a Voter’s Guide to brief you on the elections before you go to the polls. You can find the races and candidates on the ballots, along with links to their profiles, on the Sample Ballot page.
Far fewer races are on the ballots today than were last month. But in some of the races, winning the runoff is tantamount to winning the seat because there is no opposition from the opposite party in November.
On the state level, aside from the attorney general and lieutenant governor’s races, up for grabs are Republican nominations for commissioner of agriculture and industries, an associate justiceship on the Supreme Court and judgeships on the state civil and criminal appeal courts.
There are no Democrats running for the Supreme Court Place 1 seat, either courts of appeal, or the agriculture and industries commissioner’s job. That means that whoever wins the Republican nomination in those races is almost assured of winning the office in November.
There are no Democrats in statewide races in the runoff.
In Jefferson County, there are only the statewide races still undecided on the Republican side.
But there are several local Democratic races on the ballot, including two District Court seats. In one of those races, for the district 9 seat, there are no Republicans running in November
There also are runoffs in the races for the circuit court and sheriff’s seat.
Jefferson County Democratic voters also will be picking nominees for two County Commission seats, in District 1 and 2. Winning those nominations also is tantamount to winning the races, since there is not a Republican running in November.
Some Jefferson County Democrats also will vote in the House District 54 race.
In this edition of the BirminghamWatch Voter Guide, you will find lists of candidates on the ballot and their profiles, which include basic information about each of the candidates such as the top contributors to their campaigns, the main issues they’re citing in their campaigns and links to their web or social media sites.
The toolkit has information about the process of voting and what you’ll need at the polls.
It’s all in one package on BirminghamWatch.
Resources:
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
Alabama’s racial, ethnic health disparities are ‘more severe’ than other states, report says
Data from the Commonwealth Fund show that the quality of care people receive and their health outcomes worsened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
