General election approaches
The general election that Alabamians have been preparing for will be Nov. 6. Franklin County has 24 polling places for voters to use that will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Voters can determine their polling location by visiting Alabama’s Secretary of State’s website https://myinfo.alabamavotes.gov/VoterView/Home.do.
“I’m hoping it will be a good turnout. A lot of work goes into this,” Probate Judge Barry Moore said.
Local races that Franklin County citizens have expressed interest in include State Representative District 18 between Eddie Britton (D) and Jamie Kiel (R), Franklin County Board of Education Member District 5 between Ralph Winchester (D) and Kacey Hester Johnston (I), Franklin County Coroner between Elzie Malone (D) and Charles Adcox (R) and State Senator District 6 between Johnny Mack Morrow (D) and Larry Stutts (R).
Those running unopposed include District Circuit Judge Paula McDowell, Circuit Clerk Anita Scott, Probate Judge Barry Moore, Sheriff Shannon Oliver and Circuit Court Judge 34th Judicial Circuit Place 1 Terry Dempsey.
Also on the ballot are Walt Maddox (D) and Kay Ivey (R) for Governor, Will Boyd (D) and Will Ainsworth (R) for Lieutenant Governor, Joseph Siegelman (D) and Steve Marshall (R) for Attorney General and Heather Milam (D) and John Merrill (R) for Secretary of State.
There are five proposed amendments on the ballot.
Amendment 1is for “authorizing the display of the Ten Commandments on state property and property owned or administrated by a public school or public body; and prohibiting the expenditure of public funds in defense of the constitutionality of this amendment.”
Amendment 2 is to “declare and otherwise affirm that it is the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, most importantly the right to life in all manners and measures appropriate and lawful; and to provide that the constitution of this state does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”
Amendment 3 is “relating to the Board of trustees of the University of Alabama, to specify that the congressional districts from which members are appointed continue to reflect those as constituted on January 1, 2018, to remove the State Superintendent of Education from membership, and to delete the requirement that members vacate office at the annual meeting of the board following their seventieth birthday.”
Amendment 4 is to “provide that, if a vacancy in either the House of Representative or the Senate occurs on or after October 1 of the third year of a quadrennium, the seat would remain vacant until a successor is elected at the next succeeding general election.”
There is one amendment that applies only to Franklin County. This is to “specify that the county governing body may allocate one-fourth of an existing one cent sales tax for public schools in Franklin County for costs associated with construction, maintenance, and repair of roads and bridges in Franklin County, not to include use for salaries, personnel costs, or the purchase or lease of new equipment to provide for the continuing distribution of the revenue for 30 years, and to delete certain requirements for recurring referendums.”
