Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson set today into motion in September of last year. That’s when he announced he would retire after three terms in charge of government in Alabama’s “Port City.” That was the opening shot in what’s being called the most unpredictable Mayoral race in twenty years in the second largest city in the state. Mobile voters will head to the polls today to elect a new resident of City Hall, as well as city council members. No one, it seems, thinks they know what the outcome will be.
Election Day today in Alabama is mostly for municipal races. No Presidential pick will be made today, nor Alabama Governor, or any of the high profile offices that typically prompt a big turnout at the polls. That’s an ongoing concern for Kim Bailey. She’s President of the Alabama League of Women Voters.
“The municipal elections typically have very low voter turnout,” Bailey said. “I think in Tuscaloosa, it was less than 12%. But I would stress to people that local elections really are the most important elections you should vote in. Those are the ones. Those are the issues that affect you every single day. These people that you are voting for are, you know, determining how your roads, your what kind of businesses are coming into your community, how your public safety is being handled. You know, just things that that impact your everyday life, your schools, your your health, all of those things. So we really encourage people to make a plan, check out, vote for one one.org, to find out about your candidates and go out and vote for the people who impact you.”
Voters will have the chance to make those votes in an estimated one hundred races around Central Alabama. And, then there’s Mobile.
AL.com observed that the city’s new mayor will oversee a city that’s grown through the annexation of 19,789 new residents in 2023. Four candidates want the job. All have private sector experience. No legitimate third-party polling has been done, and that’s contributed to the “wild west” atmosphere of who might win. Kim Bailey of the League says Alabamians always have the option of using the group’s VOTER 4-1-1 to scope out the candidates in their neighborhood, including questionnaires of those seeking public office.
“It really depends on the the area, right?” said Bailey. “So ,we try to work with leagues in their local areas to devise questions that are specific for their community. So, you know, it can, it can really vary as to what their I'm going to say hot topics are, and you know what's important to that community.”
Voters in Alabama’s State House District 11 will also cast ballots to fill that seat in Montgomery will represent an estimated fifty thousand Alabamians in Blount and Cullman counties, between Birmingham and Huntsville. The ballot was prompted by the resignation of Randall Shedd.
