Category: 2018 Elections

Electronic Voter Check-In is Expected to Make Voting More Efficient in Jefferson County. What Else is New at the Polls?

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.

2018 Primary Voter Guide: Are You Ready for the Big Election Day? Here’s Help Checking Races, Candidates.

Most Alabama voters have a lot of decisions to make before going to the polls June 5.

All of the top statewide races are on the ballot and contested, many of them on both the Democratic and Republican sides. All of the seats in the Legislature are up for grabs this year, as are many judgeships and county offices.

The state’s Democratic Party had seemed to be dwindling from a blue dot in a sea of red to something closer to a pin head. But Democrat Doug Jones’ surprise election to the U.S. Senate in December energized the party. Half again as many people signed on this year to run for the Democratic nomination to seats in the Legislature than did in 2014. More Democrats lined up to run for other local races, as well, though the increase wasn’t quite as large as for the Legislature.

Even the Republican Party had a bump in people wanting to run for office this year, perhaps in a desire to stave off the threat of a Democratic resurgence.

In Jefferson and Shelby counties, more than 60 races are contested by about 170 people who want their party’s nomination to run in the general election this fall. You need a scorecard to tell them apart. Read the Voter Guide.