Written by Mike Hobson
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED SINCE ITS ORIGINAL PUBLICATION WITH NEW INFORMATION
As you probably know by now the race for Mayor of Centreville ended in a tie vote on August 26, with Incumbent Mayor Mike Oakley and Challenger Barry Cooner each receiving 326 votes. This total includes the absentee ballots that were cast.
The race for council seat in District 3 will go to a runoff between Incumbent Linda Lawrence and challenger Reese Lee, since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes cast.
The controlling Alabama law for settling tie votes in a municipal election is set out in Alabama Code 11-46-55. You can read the entire section for yourself if you are the analytic type but you will come away with questions about the process to be followed from here.
The local officials we have consulted with have described the process this way. There are provisional ballots that were cast. These have not been counted and are presently under seal. A provisional vote results when a voter attempts to vote but is not on the registered voter list and his/her eligibility cannot be determined at the poll on voting day. It could be they are not properly registered, or they do not reside in the City limits.
The provisional votes will be delivered to the Registrar by noon today for examination. The examination will determine if the provisional ballots will be added to the existing vote totals for either candidate. The City Council will “Canvass” the vote on next Tuesday at Noon. This is the process of certifying the vote.
The Council will decide whether provisional votes will be added or ignored. If no votes are added for either candidate there will be a runoff election (same date as the council runoff) and another vote will be taken for the office of Mayor. If that vote does not settle the winner the election contest will be referred to the Judge of Probate who may settle the contest by drawing lots to select the winner.
UPDATE: The council does not decide if votes will be added or ignored. If the votes are determined to be eligible they will be added to the total.
SINCE OUR UPDATE: We have received clarifying language from City Attorney Richard M. Kemmer. Below is how he describes the process that will be followed:
“The City Clerk has delivered the sealed provisional ballots to the Registrar’s office. The Registrar’s office will determine if the ballot is eligible to be counted.
The eligible ballots will be opened by the City Clerk and counted and the election canvass on Tuesday, September 2nd at 12:00 p.m. (noon).
If one of the candidates has the majority of the provisional votes, he will be declared the winner and the party with less votes may follow the recount or election contest procedure.
If the candidates are still tied after the canvass, the parties must go through a runoff.
After the runoff, if by some trick of fate there is another tie vote, the election is referred to the city council for consideration. The council may vote and elect the mayor. However, if the vote is still a tie or if the council declines to vote, the election is referred to the Probate Judge to draw lots.”
Sound exciting ? You bet it is. Stay tuned for further developments.
And, if you did not cast your vote in yesterday’s election there is no better example than this one of why you should vote. A total of 652 votes were cast yesterday. Your vote does count, but only when you use it.
A single vote could have settled this election yesterday. Elections should be decided by the voters, not by a difficult legal process that can result when the electorate does not participate in the voting process. Our elections are in the hands of our voters, engage with the process.
