Birmingham Voters Fill Seats for Mayor, City Council, School Board Today
Birmingham voters will elect a mayor, city council and school board members in a municipal runoff today.
Mayor William Bell faces a challenge from city attorney Randall Woodfin for the mayor’s seat. Three Birmingham City Council seats are up for grabs in districts 2, 5, and 9. And five Birmingham Board of Education slots will be filled in today’s runoff.
Voter turnout appeared moderate at Legion Field, one of the city’s largest polling places. About 5,000 people are registered to vote there. About 600 people had voted by noon, including Barbara Terrell of College Hills. She cast her ballot for Bell.
“I’m amazed by what he has done and I think he is going to continue building up the city as well as he can,” Terrell says. “He has brought in a lot of progress too, you know.”
Terrell lives in District 5 where there is a heated contest for the council seat between incumbent Johnathan Austin and Darrell O’Quinn, president of the Birmingham Citizens Advisory Board. She wouldn’t say who she chose in that race.
At Legion Field, campaign workers for William Bell and Randall Woodfin greeted voters today. W.A. Casey, a College Hills resident, says he’s been voting for Bell since he first ran Birmingham City Council in 1979. He voted for him again today.
“I think Bell’s got experience. I think there are too many things going on in this city right now to gamble with it,” Casey says.
Casey says Bell is working to bring jobs to Birmingham, but citizens have to step up and take advantage of the opportunities to work and develop businesses.
Birmingham resident Franklin Graham voted for Woodfin this morning at the Ministry Center on Green Springs Highway. “I like seeing passionate, young politicians trying to make a difference and stuff,” Graham says. “He reminds me of [Senator] Cory Booker. I’m from Newark, New Jersey, and he reminds me of Corey Booker.”
Graham says Woodfin’s the best choice because he has a lot of youthful energy. Graham’s lived in Birmingham on and off for nearly two decades and says the city has come a long way under Mayor Bell. But he says the city’s revitalization has only benefited a few neighborhoods and he believes Woodfin would do more for the city as a whole.
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