Secretary of State Jim Bennett said yesterday’s general election went as expected with 41 % of active voters turning out to the polls.
"We would have liked to have seen more people voting; however, those that participated in their own future certainly made a difference and had their voices heard," Bennett said.
Bennett predicted around 48% of voters would turn out and expected a low turnout due to lack of a hotly contested Governor’s race and other similar races on the ballot including US Senator Jeff Sessions, who was uncontested.
There were a few calls from various counties on election issues that the office will be looking into today.
"We always have calls on Election Day and may have some come in today. We want to make sure we talk with the county officials and get into particulars with them," Bennett explained. "With 2.9 million registered voters and over 20,000 poll workers, issues can occur," he said.
One issue was mishandling of ballots in Montgomery County. "We spoke with Judge Reed last night and there were some mishandled ballots. The bottom line is if a candidate or voter would like to challenge the election, they have every right to do so," Bennett said.
Bennett is also watching for potential automatic recounts to be done in some races – including Senate District 6 and House District 89. The threshold for an automatic recount in a general election is one-half of one percent. A recount would be completed after the official certification of elections results which will be done in a few weeks.
This was the first General Election where the state of Alabama has implemented the Photo ID law. Bennett said there were a few calls by poll officials which he is looking into today. "For the most part, it went as anticipated and there were few issues with nearly 1.2 million voting on Election Day," said Bennett.
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