(with 65 of 67 precincts reporting) DEMOCRATS Chris Christie…………………. 100,625 (46.04%) Joseph Siegelman…………… 117,919 (53.96%) REPUBLICANS Chess Bedsole ……………95,441 (20.21%) Troy King……………………..137,711 (29.16 %) Steve Marshall……………….133,203 (28.21%) Alice Martin………………….105,870 (22.42%) King and Marshall will meet in a runoff for the nomination.
(with 65 of 67 precincts reporting) REPUBLICANS Will Ainsworth……………………. 174,862 (36.49%) Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh……210,309 (43.88%) Rusty Glover……………………… 94,062 (19.63%) Ainsworth and Cavanaugh will meet in a runoff. There is no Democratic primary in this race.
(with 64 of 67 counties reporting) DEMOCRATS Sue Bell Cobb…………………………….. 65,377 (29.90%) Christopher A. Countryman………………..4,185 (1.91%) James C. Fields, Jr………………………....18,021 (8.24%) Walt Maddox……………………………… 114,864 (52.54%) Doug “New Blue” Smith……………………. 7,934 (3.63%) Anthony White………………………………..8,254 (3.78%) REPUBLICANS Tommy Battle………………………………. 125,181 (24.79%) Scott Dawson………………………………. 64,542 (12.78%) Bill Hightower………………………………… 23,899 (4.73%) Kay Ivey……………………………………...288,263 (57.10%) Michael McAllister (deceased)……………….2,992 (0.59%)
Polls across the state closed at 7 p.m. and the process of counting the votes will begin shortly in today’s election. Up for grabs are statewide races for the governor’s office all of the other top statewide races, along with seats in the Legislature and many judgeships and county offices. Voter turnout across the state was holding at about 25 percent with few problems reported, according to voting officials. That also held true for Jefferson County, where voter turnout is expected to fall somewhere between 25 percent and 28 percent, based on reports received from precincts. Barry Stephenson, chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Registrars, said precincts didn't experience a particularly heavier volume during late afternoon-early evening hours from people voting after work. Stephenson said calls to his office during the last hours of voting mainly covered questions about find their correct voting locations. Earlier in the day, the recent redrawing of Alabama’s legislative districts caused some confusion at the polls. Stephenson said he spent a chunk of his morning fielding calls from voters who didn’t realize their state House districts had been changed. “The state settled the lawsuit to redraw some of the State House districts and we implemented that in February,” said Stephenson, “It changed probably 30 to 40 percent of our voters’ districts, and they’re just now noticing.” Voters were mailed information about the change, but, still, when they arrived at the polls, they were prepared to vote in a different district. BirminghamWatch will be keeping up as the votes are counted throughout the evening. For BirminghamWatch’s guide to today’s election, including sample ballots, profiles of candidates, tools to find your polling place or report a problem, read the Voter Guide.
Jefferson County commissioners dusted off their atob campaign buttons for their committee meeting Tuesday. Some had called the “Alabama to Birmingham” campaign to lure in an Amazon headquarters a waste of money. As commissioners continue to lay the groundwork to draw in an Amazon advanced robotics fulfillment center, they said that was money well spent. Read more.
The recent redrawing of Alabama’s legislative districts is causing some confusion at the polls today. Barry Stephenson, Jefferson County Board of Registrars chairman, said he spent a chunk of his morning fielding calls from voters who didn’t realize their state House districts had been changed. “The state settled the lawsuit to redraw some of the State House districts and we implemented that in February,” said Stephenson, “It changed probably 30 to 40 percent of our voters’ districts, and they’re just now noticing.” Voters were mailed information about the change, but, still, when they arrived at the polls, they were prepared to vote in a different district. Otherwise, voting in the county was progressing smoothly this morning as voters went to the polls to decide among 10 people vying for their party’s nomination for governor. All of the other top statewide races also are on the ballot, along with seats in the Legislature and many judgeships and county offices. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For BirminghamWatch’s guide to today’s election, including sample ballots, profiles of candidates, tools to find your polling place or report a problem, read the Voter Guide.
Metro Birmingham is falling behind economically, compared to other large Southern cities and the nation in general, and needs a major effort to refocus industrial recruiting and workforce training. That’s the essence of findings by a report from a Boston consulting and analysis company, which was commissioned by Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama. The study indicates that the metro area is considerably behind booming Southern cities such as Nashville, Charlotte and Atlanta and has yet to fully recover from the Great Recession of the previous decade. Birmingham-area industries are too heavily reliant on workers without a college education or higher, and those workers are vulnerable to losing their jobs to automation, according to the 40-page report. Meanwhile, there’s a shortfall in industries specializing in high technology, especially life sciences, and local workers who are trained for such employment often leave the area to find work. The numbers were a bit of a surprise for Bill Jones, the co-chair of the Bold Goals education steering committee, who presided over the public release of the report Tuesday morning. “It was eye-opening to see how much we trail other cities that are not far away from us,” Jones said. Read more.
After more than six months of searching, Birmingham has a new police chief. Mayor Randall Woodfin announced Monday that Patrick D. Smith has been appointed as the city’s new law enforcement head, succeeding A.C. Roper, who announced his retirement in November. Read more.
Contributions of $5,000 or more to candidates in the Governor’s Race (Updated June 3) Read more.
When voters in Jefferson County go to the polls Tuesday, they’ll be met not with signs telling them to line up according to their last names, but by poll workers with electronic poll books ready to sign them in. Voter check-in for Jefferson County’s registered voters goes fully electronic for the first time, rather than voters having to wait while poll workers look up names on printed paper lists. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters must still verify their identity and choose to vote either a Republican or Democratic ballot. The state also has a new law that prohibits crossover voting. Voters may not vote in one party’s primary in June and then switch to vote in the other party’s runoff in July. Read more.
