Centreville Mayor Election Goes To Court
Incumbent Mayor Mike Oakley Files Election Challenge
Reported by Mike Hobson
September 5, 2025
The municipal election for the Office of Mayor for the City of Centreville ended in a tie contest on August 26, 2025. On Tuesday, September 2, the city council met at Noon to certify the election results. After eligible provisional votes were added in to the tied results Challenger Barry Cooner was certified as the election winner by a total of 3 votes, defeating incumbent Mayor Mike Oakley.
Alabama election law allows 48 hours to petition for a recount and 5 days to file an election challenge contest. No recount petition was filed however, today (September 5) an election challenge was filed in the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court in Bibb County by Mike Oakley. The challenger (Oakley) is represented in this lawsuit by Attorney Joel Blankenship.
Under Alabama law election challenges are non-jury, to be heard by a Circuit Judge and election contests are to receive priority over most other docketed cases. Cases are assigned to Judges on a rotational basis. There are three elected judges in the Fourth Circuit; any of them may be assigned the case. Each party in an election contest case must bear their own cost and legal expenses, subject to a losing contestant being ordered to pay the cost for both sides.
In his Complaint Oakley alleges grounds for the contest to be that there was malconduct on behalf of an inspector, canvassing board, and/or other persons involved in the election process and/or tallying, certifying and/or canvassing of votes and as a result of said malconduct three or more votes were counted in favor of Cooner and/or three or more votes were not counted in favor of Oakley that would have resulted in Oakley having a sufficient number of lawful votes to be declared the winner. He further alleges there were more than three illegal votes cast in the race and there were more than three legal votes that were rejected and not included in the tabulation that would have been included in the tabulation in the favor of Oakley; and that the number of rejected votes, if declared legal, would sufficiently change the tabulation of such election to result in Oakley having a sufficient number of votes to have him be declared the winner.
Oakley alleges that the combination of more than three legal votes that were rejected and illegal votes that were counted would have been sufficient for him to be declared the winner of the election.
Oakley seeks to have the Circuit Court declare him the winner of the election and declare that Barry Cooner was not the winner.
Municipal election contests are rarely filed in Alabama, however another election contest was filed in North Alabama on Thursday. Decatur resident Maurice Ayers filed a lawsuit in Morgan County Circuit Court on Thursday alleging mayoral candidates were omitted from some ballots and seeking an injunction to void the election. According to a press release Friday from Danny Saafiyah, co-founder of Standing In Power, the lawsuit “comes after it was revealed that ballots in multiple precincts failed to list all certified candidates, and every one of those ballots was both defective and fraudulent.”
