Coosa’s election results, constables being decided

By Christa Jennings

Senior Staff Writer

 

Coosa County’s unofficial election results are in following Tuesday’s general election, with official results coming next week.

Not counting provisional ballots, the county had a voter turnout of 63.03%. This was slightly less than the 2020 election when the county had a turnout of 65.51%, but is still higher than the statewide voter turnout this year, which was 58.52%.

While there were no locally contested races for this election, some voters took the opportunity to make use of the write-in option on their ballots and wrote in votes for others in both local and state races, including many constable positions.

All local races saw Republican candidates on the ballot this time, with no Democratic candidates appearing on the ballot for local races or many of the state races.

Regarding local races, the unofficial results show that for the circuit court judge of the 40th Judicial Circuit, incumbent David Law received 3,806 votes, and there were 48 write-in votes.

For circuit clerk of the county, Jamey Johnson received 3,834 votes, and there were 42 write-in votes.

For judge of probate, incumbent Richard Dean received 3,844 votes, and there were 29 write-in votes.

For superintendent of the Board of Education, incumbent David Stover received 3,843 votes, and there were 51 write-in votes.

For this election the county would have only had one ballot style countywide, but because of the many constable positions up for election, the county had numerous ballot styles to accommodate those. However, many of those positions had no candidate appear on the ballot as no one qualified to run, with many of the precincts having write-in options only.

Of the 19 constable positions appearing on Tuesday’s ballots, only six had candidates actually listed on the ballot for that precinct, with all six of those running unopposed.

For constable of precinct 420 in Mt. Olive, James Ward received 174 votes with there being five write-in votes; for constable of precinct 603 in Hanover, Noah Sanders received 146 votes, with there being no write-in votes; for constable of precinct 712 in the Rockford area, John Pierce received 320 votes, with there being four write-in votes; for constable of precinct 1117 in Weogufka, Lloyd A. Caperton received 398 votes, with there being two write-in votes; for constable of precinct 1205 in the Stewartville area, John Hill received 104 votes, with there being two write-in votes; and for constable of precinct 1215, also in the Stewartville area, Marion Brown received 97 votes, with there being no write-in votes.

Regarding the constable offices where no one ran on the ballot, for precinct 111 in Equality there were 29 write-in votes, for precinct 302 in Kellyton there were 26 write-in votes, for precinct 306 in Kellyton there were five write-in votes, for precinct 401 in Goodwater there were 15 write-in votes, for precinct 404 in Goodwater there were 22 write-in votes, for precinct 614 in Hanover there were eight write-in votes, for precinct 710 in Rockford there were four write-in votes, for precinct 721 in Rockford there was one write-in vote, for precinct 1216 in Stewartville there were 37 write-in votes, for precinct 1318 in Marble Valley there were 13 write-in votes, for precinct 1522 in Richville there were 12 write-in votes, for precinct 1707 in Ray there were 23 write-in votes, and for precinct 1909 in Cottage Grove there were five write-in votes.

Judge of Probate Richard Dean said that on Wednesday they would begin going through the write-in votes for those constable positions and checking with the Board of Registrars to see which individuals written in are eligible for the position.

Dean said they would then contact those who were written in and eligible to see if they are interested in the office. In a case where more than one person is interested in the position, the winner will be determined by a coin toss.

Because of the lengthier process to determine which write-in votes are eligible and willing to take the office, the names of those who will be taking those positions for those precincts will be included in next week’s edition with the official election results.

Of Coosa County’s 5,265 ballots cast Tuesday, 3,927 were straight-party tickets, meaning that 74.59% of Coosa County’s voters cast straight-party ballots.

Of those, there were 1,225 Democratic Party ballots cast, or 31.19%, and 2,702 Republican Party ballots cast, or 68.80%.

Regarding the presidential race, Coosa’s voters favored Republican Donald Trump, who received 3,750 votes, or 71.33%. Democratic Party candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris received 1,475 votes, or 28.05%.

Regarding independent candidates, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received 21 votes, Chase Oliver received six votes, and Jill Stein received one vote. There were also four write-in votes.

While these are the unofficial results for the county, the official results will be available and reported in next week’s edition.

Per the Code of Alabama, at noon on Tuesday following the election, which will be November 12, the Coosa County Canvassing Board must meet to count all provisional ballots certified by the Board of Registrars, as well as count any Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, ballots that were postmarked by election day and received by noon on November 12.

Following the counting of eligible provisional ballots and possible UOCAVA ballots, the final election results will be prepared, and the county’s election results will be certified, making the results official.

Through this process the Canvassing Board, media and other representatives will witness the counting of ballots, the final tabulation of results and the certification of the election. The provisional count and certification process is open to the public.

See final official results and updates on the constable offices in next week’s edition.