Shelby County Republican Party Sample Ballot
Shelby County Republican Primary Ballot
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Shelby County Democratic Party Sample Ballot
Shelby County Democratic Party Sample Ballot
Jefferson County Democratic Sample Ballot
Jefferson County Democratic Primary Sample Ballot
Jefferson County Republican Sample Ballot
Jeffco GOP primary sample ballot 2020
Voters’ Toolbox
The March 3 primaries in Alabama are only the beginning of a long political year, with offices sought ranging from the highest in the nation to county posts across the state. To better equip your 2020 voting for the long haul, we have put together a toolbox of information for voters. To check your registration status and the districts in which you vote, find your polling place and more, read BirminghamWatch’s Voter Toolbox.
Payday Loan Bill Dies, but Issue Not Dead
Last year, 189,231 Alabamians took out 1.6 million payday loans worth about $563.6 million from lenders in the state. They paid about $98.4 million in fees, according to a database kept by the Alabama Department of Banking. “It’s absolutely massive,” Dev Wakeley, a policy analyst for the progressive advocacy group Alabama Arise, said recently about the fees paid by borrowers. “All this money is getting syphoned out of communities and most of it goes out of state.” Payday lending reform, specifically the fees allowed to be charged to borrowers, has become a perennial issue in the Alabama State House. A bill by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, to give borrowers up to 30 days to repay the money instead of what can be 10 to 20 days, was killed earlier this month on an 8-6 vote in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. “The fact that this bill got shut down in committee does not negate the fact that there is a massive need for reform,” Wakeley said. Read more.
Legislature to Get Bills Addressing Needs of Alabama’s Troubled Prisons
MONTGOMERY -- In her state of the state address to open the current legislative session, Gov. Kay Ivey praised the work of a study group she appointed to “address the needs to rehabilitate those within our prison system” and said she looked forward to working with lawmakers “on bills specifically designed to address some of these issues.” Now it looks as if the rubber is about to hit the road. State Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, one of six legislators on the prison study group and one of the Legislature’s experts on the overcrowded and violence-plagued prison system, said a package of prison bills that Ivey’s office is putting together could come forth next week, Ward said he said he may be the Senate sponsor of some of the bills. He also said he plans to hold hearings on the package before the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is chairman. As described generally by Ward, the measures in the package reflect some of the recommendations of the study group, which issued a report earlier this year. The governor’s office said it had no comment. Read more.
Nevada Caucuses Voting Tonight, WBHM Publishing Live
WBHM is publishing live results from the Nevada caucuses.
Contributors to U.S. Senate Candidates
Candidates in this year’s race for the U.S. Senate on Feb. 20 updated the lists of their contributors leading up to the March 3 primary elections in Alabama. Following are contributions of $5,000 and up for each candidate. The information comes from the Federal Election Commission database. Read more.
Actions of Barr, Trump Create Potential Constitutional Crisis, Former U.S. Attorney Says
The actions of President Trump and Attorney General William Barr in the Roger Stone case have created a potential constitutional crisis, a former federal prosecutor from Birmingham said -- joining his protest to that of nearly 3,000 ex-officials of the Department of Justice. “As long as we have an attorney general and a president who cannot distinguish between politics and the rule of law, I think we are in a constitutional crisis,” said Henry Frohsin, who served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama under the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. Frohsin was one of a number of former federal prosecutors from the Birmingham U.S. attorney’s office to sign a nationwide petition set up by the organization Protect Democracy. The petition calls for Barr to resign after Trump tweeted that the recommended sentence was too high for Stone, a Trump ally convicted of witness tampering, obstructing an investigation and five counts of perjury related to the independent counsel’s Russia investigation. Read more.