One Birmingham City Council Seat Goes to a Runoff; Two Incumbents Returned to the Council
By Robert Carter and Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
One Birmingham City Council seat will be up for a runoff after none of the candidates won more than 50 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s balloting.
Wardine Towers Alexander will face Ray Brooks on Nov. 19 in a runoff for the council District 7 seat. Alexander won 42.41% of the vote to challenger Ray Brooks’ 30.88%.
Two other races were decided Tuesday. Crystal Smitherman will return as council District 6 councilor, having garnered 51.50% of the vote in a seven-candidate field. In the District 1 race, Clinton Woods will return to the council, with 71.27% of the vote in his district.
The three propositions to renew separate ad valorem taxes all passed by wide margins, with those voting yes in each race amounting to about 90%.
Reporting of full results was delayed until Wednesday because of an error in the handling of electronic machine memory cards at three different precincts.
The cards from the Martha Gaskins School, Robinson Elementary School and Five Points West precincts were sealed inside boxes that contained the paper ballots filled out by voters. Officials with the Birmingham City Clerk’s office had to get a court order Wednesday morning to allow them to open the box and add those votes to the total.
With almost 99 percent of the vote counted, here are vote totals and percentages.
City Council D1
Sherman Collins Jr. 670 27.07
Haki Jamaal Muhammad 41 1.66
Clinton Woods 1,764 71.27
City Council D6
Willine Body 50 2.00
Carlos Chaverst 349 13.99
LaTanya Millhouse 265 10.60
Clarence Muhammad 127 5.08
Crystal Smitherman 1,287 51.50
Keith O. Williams 41 1.64
Onoyemi “Oni” Williams 380 15.21
City Council D7
Wardine Towers Alexander 1,159 42.41
Ray Brooks 844 30.88
Lonnie Franklin Malone 730 26.71
School Taxes
Proposition 1
Yes 14,144 90.02
No 1,568 9.98
Proposition 2
Yes 14,127 90.03
No 1,564 9.97
Proposition 3
Yes 13,992 89.19
No 1,696 10.81
Senators call on TikTok to produce documents in response to NPR report
Two senators, who have pushed online child safety legislation in Congress, demanded that TikTok executives share all materials the company has about the dangers kids may encounter on the wildly popular service.
The Justice Department says Virginia is illegally striking voters off of voter rolls
The lawsuit filed Friday alleges that an executive order issued in August by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin requiring daily updates to voter lists to remove ineligible voters violates federal law.
Boeing will lay off 10% of employees as a strike shuts down airplane production
Boeing has been losing money for over five years and is now dealing with a strike that has shut down factories in the Seattle area. The staff cuts will include executives and managers, the CEO said.
GPB evening headlines for October 11, 2024
Uninsured Georgians are getting help replacing medications and medical equipment lost or damaged during Hurricane Helene. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and actress Julia Roberts made an Atlanta Pride Weekend pitch for Kamala Harris yesterday. The man accused of killing a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus faced a court hearing today as his trial looms.
What is the U.N. peacekeeping force stationed in Lebanon?
The mission was created in 1978 to help restore order after Israel's first invasion of Lebanon. Decades later, it's still there but has come under fire during a new Israeli invasion in Lebanon.
The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Japanese atomic bomb survivors group
The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo. Its members are survivors of the August 1945 U.S. nuclear bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
