Published: August 27, 2008 10:48 pm            

Confusion resolved in one election, persists in another

By Patrick McCreless

PATRICKM@CULLMANTIMES.COM

While a discrepancy in one Cullman County municipal election was resolved Wednesday, a discrepancy in another local election still persists.

A discrepancy was created in the Baileyton municipal election Tuesday after it was discovered that 30 absentee ballots had not been added to the overall ballot count. Baileyton Town Clerk Ruth Rose said Tuesday that the extra ballots could possibly cause a runoff between Billy McElroy and Joseph McGee for council seat Place 5.

Once the absentee ballots were counted Wednesday however, McElroy came out as the clear winner.

Rose said McElroy received 17 absentee votes, which pushed his total vote count to 180. McGee received nine absentee votes, giving him a total of 104 votes.

A possible discrepancy was also created in the Colony municipal election due not to ballots, but to a candidate’s voter registration.

Donnis Leeth beat incumbent John Turner in a landslide for Place 4 on the town council. However after the votes were counted, Colony Town Clerk Gwendolyn Purifoy noticed Leeth, who has a Colony address, was a registered voter not in Cullman County, but in Jefferson County. Purifoy said Tuesday she did not know if the registration could affect Leeth’s election.

“It’s still not resolved,” she said Wednesday.

Perry Roquemore, executive director of the legal department for the Alabama League of Municipalities said any change in the Colony election would be up to the courts.

“There may be an issue, but that’s for the court to decide,” Roquemore said. “Either a taxpayer or a candidate would just have to go to court and challenge him.”

Voter turnout throughout Cullman County was either average or below average. Rose, who is also the human resources manager for the city of Cullman, said turnout was low for both the Cullman city council and the Cullman city board of education elections. She said 3,200 votes were cast in the board of education election while 3,404 were cast for city council candidates.

“That’s about a third of the registered vote,” Rose said. “I was hoping it would be better, but I guess it was lower because of the rain.”

Hanceville turnout was better with more than 780 votes cast, said Hanceville City Clerk Tania Wilcox.

“It’s a normal turnout,” Wilcox said. “I think the last election was right around that number.”

Dodge City had 214 votes, Baileyton had 352 votes and Good Hope had 564 votes. Only 157 votes were cast in Holly Pond, however the mayoral position was the only contested race.

Purifoy said she was not sure if Colony’s 135 votes was typical or not.

“The last election we had was in 1996, so it’s kind of hard to say,” she said.

Purifoy noted however, that the 135 votes represents more than 50 percent of the registered voters in Colony.

All municipal runoff elections will be held Oct. 7. Absentee ballots for runoffs are due at the Cullman County Courthouse by the last business day prior to the elections.

Newly elected municipal candidates will take office Nov. 3.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.