2018 Elections
Vote Count Begins as Polls Close Across the State

The Latest
- Sheila Tyson appears to have won the Democratic nomination to the Jefferson County Commission District 2 seat. With more than 99 percent of the vote counted, Tyson had 52.6 percent of the vote to Sandra Little Brown’s 47.4 percent, according to the county’s unofficial vote returns.Lashunda Scales appears to have won the Jefferson County Commission District 1 race. With more than 99 percent of the vote counted, Scales had 59 percent of the vote to incumbent George Bowman’s 41 percent.
- Attorney General Steve Marshall has won the Republican nomination to run to serve a full term in office, defeating former Attorney General Troy King, the Associated Press reported. Marshall had almost 64 percent of the vote with about half of the votes counted, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
- Neil Rafferty appears to have won the Democratic nomination to the House District 54 seat. According to Jefferson County unofficial results, with 84 percent of precincts reporting, Rafferty was carrying 69 percent of the vote to Jacqueline Gray Miller’s 31 percent.
- U.S. Rep. Martha Roby has won the Republican nomination to the House seat she now holds, defeating challenger Bobby Bright, the Associated Press reported. Roby had about 70 percent of the vote shortly after 9 p.m.
- The Associated Press has called the race for the Republican nomination for commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries in favor of Rick Pate. According to the Secretary of State site, Pate had almost 57 percent of the vote to Gerald Dial’s 43 percent.
- In Shelby County, Patrick Kennedy appears to have won the Republican nomination for Circuit Court judge. With about 98 percent of the vote counted, he had 72 percent of the vote to Phillip Bahakel’s 28 percent.
- Will Ainsworth appears to have won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, getting more than 51 percent of the vote to Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh’s 48.5 percent.
Polls Closed
Polls have closed across the state and votes are being counted after a day of light voting in the state’s party primary runoffs.
Secretary of State John Merrill said voter turnout today was “extraordinarily low,” according to the Associated Press. Jefferson County Board of Registrars Chairman Barry Stephenson said he expects the final voter turnout will be about 10 percent.
He said no serious problems occurred at the polls today. “It’s been a pretty uneventful day. Most all our calls were helping people explain the ballot to them or tell them which precinct to vote in,” said Stephenson.
Stephenson said there were a few people who had questions about the crossover voting rules and others about candidates on the ballot.
“We had commission races in two districts on the Democrat side so some people got confused,” said Stephenson, “and on the Republican side there were some statewide races, and so when people didn’t see that on their ballot they were confused, too.”
The Republican Party had six statewide runoffs on the ballot, for attorney general, lieutenant governor, commissioner of agriculture and industries, an associate justiceship on the Supreme Court and judgeships on the state civil and criminal appeal courts.
In Jefferson County, there were no local Republican races on the ballot.
The Democratic Party had no statewide races in the runoff. But it did have several local runoffs on the ballot. Voters picked the party’s nominees for two District Court seats, circuit court clerk, sheriff, two county commissioners and a House race.
Read BirminghamWatch’s Voter Guide to today’s election, and check back during the evening for results in the races.
(Correction: This story has been corrected to identify Alabama Secretary of State as John Merrill.)