District 5 Councilor Darrell O’Quinn welcomed Birmingham residents to “the new era of shared micromobility” Tuesday after the council approved deals with two bike- and scooter-sharing companies. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council approved the rezoning of Carraway Hospital and several adjacent properties Tuesday, clearing the way for Corporate Realty’s long-planned mixed-use redevelopment of the abandoned campus. Read more.
Democrats in Birmingham were jubilant Saturday night as they watched President-elect Joe Biden address the nation following his victory in the 2020 presidential election. Read more.
Joe Biden has won election as president of the United States, defeating incumbent Donald Trump in a combative campaign set against the backdrop of a pandemic and racial unrest. The Associated Press called the race for Biden Saturday morning, four days after Election Day, when it put Pennsylvania into his ‘win’ column. Votes still are being counted in many states, but Biden appears to have reached a tipping point in the race for electoral votes that Trump cannot overcome. Read more.
Horizon Church in Vestavia Hills saw a flood of voters descend Tuesday on its Columbiana Road location. But that wasn’t the only flood that precinct experienced. “Horizon Church had their bathroom back up right early in the morning, and there was flooding in the hallway,” Jefferson County Probate Judge James P. Naftel II recalled. “We had to work with the county to get Port-O-Lets out there for those voters.” Which, the judge said, was easier said than done. “You don't just snap your fingers and Port-O-Lets appear,” he said. “It took a few hours, and people were waiting outside, and sometimes they have kids. “People had to endure a little bit more than normal on this one (election) but they rose to the occasion as they always do,” Naftel said. “I was overall relieved that things went as smoothly as they did.” Read more.
Jefferson County Board of Registrars Chairman Barry Stephenson said Wednesday that Tuesday’s election ran smoothly with “a few minor glitches,” despite long lines at most precincts.
Those standing in one of those long lines in Vestavia Hills had some unexpected entertainment to help pass the time. Voters reported a middle-aged man dressed in a baby costume with a large Trump head cavorting across the street.
“I just told them that as long as he was not too close to the polls, they were on their own,” Stephenson said.
Earlier on Tuesday, he said, “We had one instance of over-zealous campaign workers, closer than 30 feet (from the polling place). We backed them up, and that was it.” That occurred in Tarrant City.
Stephenson said that the county will be looking at adding precincts to remedy the long lines. “This year we were having to deal with COVID, as well,” he said.
On the state level, Alabama Secretary of State John H. Merrill said absentee votes were still being counted in some counties as of late Wednesday. Already, the state has broken its previous record for the sheer number of people who voted. Read more.
More election coverage from BirminghamWatch
Trump Sweeps Alabama, Tuberville Ousts Jones for Senate Seat
Tuberville Reclaims Senate Seat for the Republicans
Voters Change Constitution With Votes for at Least Five Amendments
Who Won the Votes in Alabama and Jefferson County?
2020 Voter Guide
Unofficial results as of 8:45 a.m. Most counties reported 100% of the votes had been counted. In Jefferson County, 98.29% of the boxes had been counted. President: Joseph R. Biden (D): 36.26% Donald J. Trump (R): 62.34% Jorgensen (I): 1.10% U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D): 39.43% Tommy Tuberville (R): 60.40% Public Service
Five of the six statewide amendments on Alabama’s ballot passed Tuesday, with another one that proposed several changes to ethics oversight in the state judiciary being too close to call early Wednesday morning. Most of the measures, including one to “recompile” the constitution to remove racist language and two others establishing county-specific “stand your ground” laws for churches, passed easily. Read more.
Donald J. Trump was in a close reelection fight Tuesday night, but it was not close in the Heart of Dixie. Trump won Alabama overwhelmingly over Democrat Joe Biden, just as he did in 2016 when he defeated Hillary Clinton. And keeping with their strong preference for Republican candidates, Alabama voters chose former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, a political newcomer whose campaign was largely based on his loyalty to Trump, to replace Democratic incumbent Doug Jones in the U.S. Senate. Unofficial returns from all 67 counties this morning showed Trump leading Biden by about 62% to 36% in Alabama. Almost as soon as polling places around the state closed, The Associated Press declared Trump the winner, and thus he will win the state’s nine electoral votes, just as he did in 2016 when he won 63% of the votes against Democratic nominee Clinton. Tuberville, meanwhile, was leading Jones by a margin of about 60% to 39%, though Jones was ahead by 58% to 41% in the state’s most populous county of Jefferson and by an even bigger margin in Montgomery County. Read more.
Tommy Tuberville defeated incumbent Sen. Doug Jones in Tuesday’s election, reclaiming Alabama’s junior Senate seat for Republicans after the party’s surprise loss in a special election three years ago. With 65 of 67 counties reporting at midnight, Tuberville had 62% of the vote to Jones’ 38%. Tuberville, a former head football coach for Auburn University, had easily defeated the seat’s previous occupant, Jeff Sessions, in July’s Republican runoff. From there, he shifted to a minimalist campaign approach, eschewing debates and mostly avoiding public and media appearances, counting on his name recognition and Alabama’s deep-rooted conservative politics to push him to victory. Even in the primary, his campaign was painted in broad strokes. Tuberville portrayed himself as a loyalist to President Donald Trump, echoing his promises to “drain the swamp” – i.e., remove corruption from Washington — and to “build the wall” along America’s border with Mexico. When he appeared onstage Tuesday night to give his acceptance speech, he promised supporters that his first term as senator would “be guided by our shared values, conservative values, and I will vote for the majority people of the state of Alabama and not for a party like Doug Jones did.” Read more.
