Alabama Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, said the simple fact is people aren’t interested runoff elections. “People don’t take them seriously,” said Ball. “Look at the participation — that tells you what people think of runoffs.”
He referred to the lack of interest in the State’s April 12 Runoff elections. According to the Alabama Secretary of State’s website, there are 1.35 million registered voters, but during Tuesday’s runoff elections just over 65,000 people voted.
“It’s sad that this happens, but people forget about runoff elections,” said Political Science Expert Bill Stewart, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama. Stewart said most states don’t have runoff elections anymore because they draw a small percentage of voters.
Out of 108,168 registered voters in Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale counties, only 5,711 people voted in Tuesday’s runoff election. “I’m disappointed that the turnout was as low as it was,” said Lauderdale County Probate Judge Will Motlow. “There were important races on the ballot. I wish we had more of an interest.” Motlow said candidates work hard, spending money in the primary and then in the runoff. He said you would think “there would be enough interest to get people out and voting.”
Vote totals in the runoffs indicate in Colbert County, out of 36 boxes there were eight that had less than 10 total votes. In two of those, only one person voted, in two others no one voted.
At the box at Leighton City Hall, where there is 419 registered voters, one person voted. At the box at Sheffield’s Michael Center, there are 989 registered voters and there were no votes cast during the runoff.
“Voting is something important to me. So it’s discouraging when you see people not exercise their right to vote,” said Colbert County Probate Judge Daniel Rosser. “Every time I vote I feel I’m honoring the people who suffered for me to provide me freedom and the safety I enjoy.”
Motlow said there were boxes in Lauderdale County that had less than 100 people voting and they normally have several hundred votes cast. He said he visited many polling places where the workers were just sitting there. “They were bored, they didn’t have anything to do.” He commended the voters in Greenhill where more than 500 votes were cast. “It wasn’t as many as usually, but it was more than anywhere else,” Motlow said.
In 2012 a total of 5,557 votes were cast in the runoffs in the three-county region, while 8,675 people voted in the 2014 runoffs in northwest Alabama. “It’s discouraging when you don’t have a good turnout and so few people come to vote,” said Franklin County Probate Judge Barry Moore.
Stewart said one reason runoffs are drawing such a small percentage of voters is because of the long period between the primary and the runoff. “It used to be the runoffs were three weeks after the primary. Now, it’s six weeks, to allow men and woman in the armed forces have a chance to vote,” Stewart said. “That’s too long — people forget about the runoffs.”
Stewart said it can easily be argued that “we don’t need (runoffs).” “So often there are only one or two races in the runoffs and people don’t see a need to get out and vote,” Stewart said. “I remember a time in the 1970s, there were some exciting runoff races and people wanted to vote, but times have changed. The interest just isn’t there anymore.”
Ball tried to pass a bill in the Alabama Legislature in 2013 to eliminate runoff elections. “It didn’t get anywhere, but something needs to be done,” he said. “People don’t get interested in runoffs. They’ve turned out to be a waste of time and money.”
A perfect example why we need to replace runoffs with Ranked-Choice Voting!
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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