2017 U.S. Senate Race
Doug Jones Has Won the Race for the U.S. Senate
Democrat Doug Jones has won the Senate race against Republican Roy Moore, capping a campaign season that has been controversial from start to finish.
The Alabama Secretary of State’s Office reports that Jones won 48.95 percent of the vote, or 553, 931 votes, to Moore’s 49.49 percent, or 560,083 votes. There were 17,632 write in votes cast.
Just 6,152 votes cast by Alabama’s 3.3 million voters separated the candidates. Turnout for the day was 34.05 percent.
The atmosphere at the Doug Jones results party at the Sheraton was largely positive, with crowds gathering around the television behind the bar. It shifted from lukewarm to boiling in an instant. As soon as the first results came back that put Jones within a percentage point of Moore, the mood in the Sheraton entire place changed. People cheered. People in the crowd repeated said “I really cannot believe it!” Several people were crying at the bar.
At the Moore party in Montgomery, the atmosphere turned from lively to funereal as the big county results flipped the lead.
Moore spoke to the group gathered at his campaign party later this evening, but he did not concede the race.
Moore said that with such a tight race, any of a number of factors could flip the result, including ballots cast by Alabama residents serving abroad in the military that have not yet been received. Also not counted are provisional votes.
Moore sent his supporters on their way with the words: “Let’s go home and sleep on it.”
However, Secretary of State John Merrill said that all of the absentee votes had been counted, and he did not think military votes would be enough to tip the scale. according to WBRC. He said 100 percent of the precincts had been counted.
In a press conference about 11 p.m., Merrill said that the race was close, but not close enough to trip the state’s automatic recount law. He said the candidates would have had to be separated by no more than .5 percent of the vote to have an automatic recount. He said Moore could request a recount at his own expense.
But that couldn’t be done until the vote had been certified. Which Merrill said would happen sometime between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3.
Turnout
Voters showed up at the polls in droves to vote in the race.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill had predicted turnout could be 25 percent, which would be higher than either the primaries or the Republican runoff.
But several probate judges said during the day that they were seeing higher turnout in their counties.
Barry Stephenson, chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Registrars, said about 1 p.m. that voting today is “progressing pretty well.”
He said it’s running like a normal election day so far, and he thinks Jefferson County will top that number, based on the number of calls his office has been getting.
He’s heard a couple of polling places are somewhat cold, but those are the only complaints that have come in to his office.
Shelby County Probate Judge Jim Fuhrmeister told the Associated Press that turnout appears higher than normal among young people and black voters in the affluent, normally Republican county.
Fuhrmeister said he isn’t predicting a Democratic win. But the Jones camp has upped its grass-roots campaign in the county, and Furhmeister said he expects the party to see some results for its efforts.
Several probate judges have said they have received up to four times as many applications for absentee ballots as they usually process.
The U.S. Senate special election has drawn national attention for months, enough so that the Department of Homeland Security is keepings watch in the state today, according to AP.
A federal protective security adviser and a cybersecurity adviser are in Montgomery and working “side by side” with state government officials in case issues arise, a DHS official told AP.
The officials said it’s part of a larger effort to share threat information and technical support after DHS concluded Russian government hackers targeted election systems in 21 states last year.
Controversial From the Start
Even before several women accused Moore of having sexual contact with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, the race was in the spotlight because it could determine a key vote in the Senate as Trump tries to get some of his major platform planks passed.
After the allegations, that attention exploded. The race has at one time or another been described as a referendum on President Trump and/or the Democratic Party, on American values or Alabama values, and on Alabama itself.
The allegations prompted at least four men to put their names into the ring or step up their campaigns as write-in candidates. The one who has drawn the most attention is Republican Lee Busby, a retired Marine colonel and former aide to White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly who currently is a sculptor and Tuscaloosa resident. He announced he was launching a write-in campaign out of frustration with limited options for Republican voters such as himself.
Others publicly rallying for write-in votes include Mac Watson, co-owner of a family patio supply store in Auburn, Eulas Kirtdoll Sr., who has said that all of the write-in candidates have struggled to be heard, and Libertarian Ron Bishop.
Some Republicans had grown hesitant about Moore after allegations of sexual abuse were made against him. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, publicly announced that he had voted by absentee ballot – and not for Moore. Shelby said he had written in the name of a distinguished Republican.
But later, Trump endorsed Moore and Republicans began to trickle back to his side.
Nonetheless, the controversy left the race mostly a statistical tie. Polls had seesawed between showing Moore up by a few points and then the next day showing Jones edging him out.
Polls were open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across the state.
For complete coverage of the election, including candidate profiles, information about campaign donations, and rules for the polls and tools for the voter, Read the BirminghamWatch Voter Guide.
Candidate Profiles
What You Need to Know at the Polls
Campaign Money
Report a Problem at the Polls
Jones Brings out Randall Woodfin, Charles Barkley, for Election-Eve Rally
