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Elections in Alabama

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Elections in Alabama are authorized under the Alabama State Constitution, which establishes elections for the state level officers, cabinet, and legislature, and the election of county-level officers, including members of school boards.

The office of the Alabama Secretary of State has an Elections Division that oversees the execution of elections under state law.

In a 2020 study, Alabama was ranked as the 12th hardest state for citizens to vote in.[1]

State elections

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History

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With the disenfranchisement of blacks at the turn of the 20th century after the Reconstruction era, Alabama Democrats suppressed populist challenges and the state became part of the "Solid South." This constitution was not initially supported by the majority of whites, but Democrats used the call of white supremacy to gain passage.[2] In addition to wanting to affirm white supremacy, the planter and business elite were concerned about voting by lower-class and uneducated whites. Historian J. Morgan Kousser found, "They disfranchised these whites as willingly as they deprived blacks of the vote."[3] After passage, the 1901 constitution's provisions for a grandfather clause, cumulative poll taxes, literacy tests, and increased residency requirements state, county and precinct effectively disenfranchised many poor whites as well, to enable elite control. Glenn Feldman has documented that in total, by 1941 more whites than blacks had been disenfranchised in Alabama under this constitution.[4] The Democratic Party dominated politics in every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally only token Republican challengers running in the General Election. Republicans ran a token candidate in every Alabama gubernatorial election except for 1930 and 1962. Their highest vote total between disenfranchisement and 1966 was the 21.28% of the vote they gained in 1922. Alabama was unusual among Deep South states in even having a token Republican running in the gubernatorial election. In nearby states like Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi, Republicans did not field a gubernatorial candidate until the 1960s.

Contingent voting was used in the US state of Alabama from 1915 to 1931.[5]

Demographic changes and developments in the 1986 Democratic primary election led to the election of the first Republican governor by majority-white voters in more than a century. This was the beginning of what is now Republican political dominance in the state. One million voters cast ballots in the 1986 Democratic primary. The then-incumbent lieutenant governor, Bill Baxley, lost the Democratic nomination for governor by approximately 8,000 votes to then fellow Democratic Attorney General Charles Graddick.

The state Democratic party's five-member election contest committee invalidated the primary election result, claiming that thousands of Republicans had "illegally" voted in the Democratic primary for Graddick. As a result, they removed Graddick from the ballot. The Democratic Party placed Baxley's name on the ballot as the Democratic candidate instead of Graddick. The voters of the state revolted at what they perceived as disenfranchisement of their right to vote and elected the Republican challenger, Guy Hunt, as governor.[6] Hunt was nominated in a statewide Republican primary that had 28,000 participants, compared to >1,000,000 in the Democratic primary. That November, Hunt became the first Republican governor elected in Alabama since Reconstruction, winning 57 percent of the vote statewide against Baxley.

Since 1986, Republicans have won six of the seven gubernatorial elections and become increasingly competitive in Alabama politics at many levels. They currently control two seats of Alabama's U.S. Senate delegation and six out of seven of the state's U.S. Representative delegation. And all 9 seats on the Supreme Court of Alabama are held by Republicans.

Three Republican lieutenant governors have been elected since Reconstruction, Steve Windom, Kay Ivey (the current governor), and Will Ainsworth (the current incumbent). Windom served as lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman. Before 2011, the last time that Alabama had a governor and lieutenant governor of the same party was the period between 1983 and 1987 when George Wallace was serving his fourth term as governor and Bill Baxley was serving as lieutenant governor; both were Democrats.

21st century

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Republicans held all nine seats on the Alabama Supreme Court[7] and all ten seats on the state appellate courts. Until 1994, no Republicans held any of the state court seats. In the 1994 general election, the then-incumbent Chief Justice of Alabama, Ernest C. Hornsby, refused to leave office after losing the election by precisely 262 votes to Republican Perry O. Hooper Sr. Hornsby sued Alabama and defiantly remained in office for nearly a year before finally giving up the seat after losing a long court battle that included a decision by the very Supreme Court of which he himself was the Chief Justice.[8] This ultimately led to a collapse of support for Democrats at the ballot box in the next three or four election cycles. The Democrats lost the last of the nineteen court seats in August 2011 with the resignation of the last Democrat on the bench.

Republicans hold all seven of the statewide elected executive branch offices. Republicans hold six of the eight elected seats on the Alabama State Board of Education. In 2010, Republicans took large majorities of both chambers of the state legislature, giving them control of that body for the first time in 136 years. Democrats lost their last remaining statewide office in November 2012 with the re-election defeat of the president of the Alabama Public Service Commission, thus giving Republicans all three of its seats.[9][10][11]

Local elections

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In the late 20th century, Alabama maintained its extensive system of at-large voting for most county and municipal offices, including County Commissioners, Boards of Education, Tax Assessors, Tax Collectors, etc. As a result, in majority-white jurisdictions, black minorities, even when significant in proportion and then able to register and vote, were generally unable to elect any candidates of their choice in such elections. These practices were challenged by plaintiffs under Dillard v. Crenshaw County (1986). The federal district judge found that the state's broad use of at-large elections had a racially discriminatory purpose and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The state's use of a "place system", which precluded single-shot voting, was found specifically to have been adopted to "impede the ability of African-American voters to elect" candidates of their choice.[12]

Following the court ruling on the state's use of this system, the plaintiffs expanded their dilution claims in Dillard in an omnibus application to "include the at-large election systems to include other county commissions, county school boards, and municipal councils across the state."[12] The amended complaint covered nearly "200 units of local government", challenging at-large systems in local jurisdictions in which blacks were at least 10 percent of the population.[12] Most of the affected jurisdictions settled these cases by adopting single-member district systems (SMDs), which has resulted in the election of more blacks to local offices, generally in proportion to their part of the jurisdiction's population; this has resulted in more Democrats being elected to office. Limited voting schemes were adopted by 21 municipalities in negotiation with the plaintiffs, and another six jurisdictions adopted cumulative voting arrangements. As a result, total representation by black candidates has increased in local elections for municipal and county government, as well as county school boards.[12] Elections have been held since 1988 under these alternative systems.

As of the early 21st century, local elections in most rural counties, many of which are black dominated, are generally decided in the Democratic primary, and local elections in metropolitan and suburban counties, which are generally white majority, are decided in the Republican primary, although there are exceptions.[13][14]

Alabama's 67 County Sheriffs are elected in partisan elections, and Democrats until 2016 retained the majority of those posts. The current split as of April 2017 is 32 Democrats, 34 Republicans, and 1 Independent (Fayette).[15] Most Democrat sheriffs have been elected in rural counties. The majority of Republican sheriffs have been elected in more urban/suburban and heavily populated counties, which tend to be majority white.[15] Just two of 19 Alabama counties with a population of over 75,000 (Limestone and Montgomery) have a Democratic sheriff; and seventeen of 48 Alabama counties with a population of under 75,000 have Republican sheriffs (Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Cherokee, Chilton, Clarke, Cleburne, Crenshaw, Coffee, Coosa, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Jackson, Tallapoosa, Walker, and Winston).[15] The state has one female sheriff (Morgan) and ten black sheriffs (Bullock, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Montgomery, Perry, Sumter, and Wilcox).[15]

Federal elections

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History

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United States presidential election results for Alabama[16]
Year Republican / Whig Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 1,441,170 62.03% 849,624 36.57% 32,488 1.40%
2016 1,318,255 62.08% 729,547 34.36% 75,570 3.56%
2012 1,255,925 60.55% 795,696 38.36% 22,717 1.10%
2008 1,266,546 60.32% 813,479 38.74% 19,794 0.94%
2004 1,176,394 62.46% 693,933 36.84% 13,122 0.70%
2000 944,409 56.47% 695,602 41.59% 32,540 1.95%
1996 769,044 50.12% 662,165 43.16% 103,140 6.72%
1992 804,283 47.65% 690,080 40.88% 193,697 11.47%
1988 815,576 59.17% 549,506 39.86% 13,394 0.97%
1984 872,849 60.54% 551,899 38.28% 16,965 1.18%
1980 654,192 48.75% 636,730 47.45% 51,007 3.80%
1976 504,070 42.61% 659,170 55.73% 19,610 1.66%
1972 728,701 72.43% 256,923 25.54% 20,469 2.03%
1968 146,923 13.99% 196,579 18.72% 706,415 67.28%
1964 479,085 69.45% 0 0.00% 210,732 30.55%
1960 237,981 42.16% 318,303 56.39% 8,189 1.45%
1956 195,694 39.39% 280,844 56.52% 20,333 4.09%
1952 149,231 35.02% 275,075 64.55% 1,814 0.43%
1948 40,930 19.04% 0 0.00% 174,050 80.96%
1944 44,540 18.20% 198,918 81.28% 1,285 0.53%
1940 42,184 14.34% 250,726 85.22% 1,309 0.44%
1936 35,358 12.82% 238,196 86.38% 2,190 0.79%
1932 34,675 14.13% 207,910 84.74% 2,769 1.13%
1928 120,725 48.49% 127,796 51.33% 460 0.18%
1924 40,615 25.02% 113,138 69.69% 8,602 5.30%
1920 96,589 37.11% 160,560 61.68% 3,158 1.21%
1916 28,662 21.92% 99,409 76.04% 2,657 2.03%
1912 9,717 8.24% 82,438 69.94% 25,714 21.82%
1908 25,372 24.18% 74,374 70.88% 5,186 4.94%
1904 22,472 20.65% 79,857 73.37% 6,516 5.99%
1900 55,612 34.82% 97,129 60.82% 6,951 4.35%
1896 55,673 28.61% 130,298 66.96% 8,609 4.42%
1892 9,184 3.95% 138,135 59.40% 85,224 36.65%
1888 57,177 32.66% 117,314 67.00% 594 0.34%
1884 59,444 38.69% 92,736 60.37% 1,444 0.94%
1880 56,350 37.10% 91,130 59.99% 4,422 2.91%
1876 68,708 40.02% 102,989 59.98% 2 0.00%
1872 90,272 53.19% 79,444 46.81% 0 0.00%
1868 76,667 51.25% 72,921 48.75% 6 0.00%
1860 0 0.00% 13,618 15.11% 76,504 84.89%
1856 0 0.00% 46,739 62.08% 28,552 37.92%
1852 15,061 34.12% 26,881 60.89% 2,205 4.99%
1848 30,482 49.44% 31,173 50.56% 4 0.01%
1844 26,002 41.01% 37,401 58.99% 0 0.00%
1840 28,515 45.62% 33,996 54.38% 0 0.00%
1836 16,658 44.66% 20,638 55.34% 0 0.00%

From 1876 through 1956, Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates, by large margins. There were only two exceptions; the 1928 elections in which the Democrats won by a much smaller margin than normal due to Anti-Catholic prejudices against the Democratic candidate Al Smith, and the 1948 election when Alabama, along with Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina, voted for Strom Thurmond of the pro-segregation States Rights Democratic Party. In 1960, the Democrats won with John F. Kennedy on the ballot. However, six of the state's 11 Democratic electors were members of the unpledged elector movement, and gave their electoral votes as a protest to Harry Byrd.

The Alabama Paradox is named after the 1880 observation by U.S. census clerk C.W. Seaton that the state of Alabama would lose one of its 8 seats in the House of Representatives if the size of the House were increased from 299 to 300.[17]

In 1964, the state swung over dramatically to support Republican Barry Goldwater, who carried the state with an unheard-of 69 percent of the vote, carrying all but five counties. He was the first Republican to carry the state since 1872. Like much of the Deep South, Alabama's voters turned violently on President Lyndon Johnson in the wake of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the 1968 presidential election, Alabama supported native son and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace over both Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Wallace was the official Democratic candidate in Alabama, while Humphrey was the National Democratic nominee.[18] In 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter from Georgia carried the state, but Democratic control proved to be temporary- Carter is the only Democrat since 1964 to carry the state.

Alabama does not register voters by party, but in recent statewide elections, Republican turnout in statewide primaries has consistently exceeded that for the Democrats. Alabama is now considered a Republican stronghold at both the federal and state level, although Democrats still retain a slim majority in many local offices (sheriffs, county commissioners, etc.). The state has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1980, and Democrats have not seriously contested the state since. Republicans have also done increasingly well in Senate and House elections; they have held a majority of the state's congressional delegation and both Senate seats since 1997, although they briefly lost a Senate seat from 2018 to 2021. In 2010, Republicans won large majorities in both chambers of the Alabama Legislature ending 136 years of Democratic rule; see Dixiecrat. In 2012, Democrats lost the only remaining statewide office the party still held giving Republicans control of all 10 state constitutional offices. The GOP also has won all 19 statewide court seats.

The 11 counties that consistently vote Democratic are Black Belt counties, where African Americans are the majority racial group. Republicans have gotten over 60% of the vote in every presidential election since 2004.

Presidential elections

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Vote in Alabama National winner
Year Candidate Year Candidate
1820 James Monroe 1820 James Monroe
1824 Andrew Jackson 1824 John Quincy Adams
1828 Andrew Jackson 1828 Andrew Jackson
1832 Andrew Jackson 1832 Andrew Jackson
1836 Martin Van Buren 1836 Martin Van Buren
1840 Martin Van Buren 1840 William Henry Harrison
1844 James K. Polk 1844 James K. Polk
1848 Lewis Cass 1848 Zachary Taylor
1852 Franklin Pierce 1852 Franklin Pierce
1856 James Buchanan 1856 James Buchanan
1860 John C. Breckinridge 1860 Abraham Lincoln
1864 1864 Abraham Lincoln
1868 Ulysses S. Grant 1868 Ulysses S. Grant
1872 Ulysses S. Grant 1872 Ulysses S. Grant
1876 Samuel J. Tilden 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes
1880 Winfield Scott Hancock 1880 James A. Garfield
1884 Grover Cleveland 1884 Grover Cleveland
1888 Grover Cleveland 1888 Benjamin Harrison
1892 Grover Cleveland 1892 Grover Cleveland
1896 William Jennings Bryan 1896 William McKinley
1900 William Jennings Bryan 1900 William McKinley
1904 Alton B. Parker 1904 Theodore Roosevelt
1908 William Jennings Bryan 1908 William Howard Taft
1912 Woodrow Wilson 1912 Woodrow Wilson
1916 Woodrow Wilson 1916 Woodrow Wilson
1920 James M. Cox 1920 Warren G. Harding
1924 John W. Davis 1924 Calvin Coolidge
1928 Al Smith 1928 Herbert Hoover
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt
1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt
1948 Strom Thurmond 1948 Harry S. Truman
1952 Adlai Stevenson 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower
1956 Adlai Stevenson 1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower
1960 Harry F. Byrd 1960 John F. Kennedy
1964 Barry Goldwater 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson
1968 George Wallace 1968 Richard Nixon
1972 Richard Nixon 1972 Richard Nixon
1976 Jimmy Carter 1976 Jimmy Carter
1980 Ronald Reagan 1980 Ronald Reagan
1984 Ronald Reagan 1984 Ronald Reagan
1988 George H. W. Bush 1988 George H. W. Bush
1992 George H. W. Bush 1992 Bill Clinton
1996 Bob Dole 1996 Bill Clinton
2000 George W. Bush 2000 George W. Bush
2004 George W. Bush 2004 George W. Bush
2008 John McCain 2008 Barack Obama
2012 Mitt Romney 2012 Barack Obama
2016 Donald Trump 2016 Donald Trump
2020 Donald Trump 2020 Joe Biden

See also

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References

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  1. ^ J. Pomante II, Michael; Li, Quan (15 Dec 2020). "Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020". Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. 19 (4): 503–509. doi:10.1089/elj.2020.0666. S2CID 225139517.
  2. ^ Joseph H. Taylor, "Populism and Disfranchisement in Alabama", The Journal of Negro History Vol. 34, No. 4 (Oct., 1949), pp. 410-427(subscription required)
  3. ^ J. Morgan Kousser.The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974
  4. ^ Glenn Feldman, The Disfranchisement Myth: Poor Whites and Suffrage Restriction in Alabama, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004, pp. 135–136
  5. ^ Bowler and GRofman Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta, p. 40
  6. ^ Stovall, Cotter, & Fisher, Alabama Political Almanac, p. 260, 1995
  7. ^ "Sue Bell Cobb considering running for governor". The Birmingham News. al.com. 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  8. ^ "ROE v. STATE OF ALA. | 68 F.3d 404 (1995) | 8f3d4041378". Leagle.com. 1995-10-13. Retrieved 2022-08-12.
  9. ^ "Commissioners". Psc.state.al.us. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  10. ^ Special (2008-11-05). "Lucy Baxley wins Alabama Public Service Commission presidency, but recount possible". Birmingham News via al.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  11. ^ Jeff Amy, Press-Register. "Public Service Commission: Twinkle Cavanaugh, Terry Dunn join GOP sweep". al.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
  12. ^ a b c d Georgia Anne Persons, editor, Race and Representation, Transaction Publishers, 1997, p. 185
  13. ^ "2006 Gubernatorial Democratic Primary Election Results - Alabama". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  14. ^ "2006 Gubernatorial Republican Primary Election Results - Alabama". Uselectionatlas.org. 2007-02-15. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  15. ^ a b c d "Alabama Sheriffs Association". Retrieved 2017-04-02.
  16. ^ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Alabama". US Election Atlas. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  17. ^ https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-alabama-new-states-population-paradoxes.html#:~:text=The%20Alabama%20Paradox%20states%20that,found%20in%201880%20by%20C.W. [bare URL]
  18. ^ "1968 Presidential General Election Results – Alabama". Uselectionatlas.org. 1968-11-05. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
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