Several Birmingham Special Election Results on Hold Until Wednesday
By Robert Carter
Special elections for three Birmingham City Council seats, plus renewals for three ad valorem taxes, will not have results declared 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 said the cards could not be retrieved from the boxes until a judge issues a court order that allows it. Provisional votes are not included as well.
Rick Journey, the director of communications for Birmingham City, said Judge Joseph L. Boohaker ordered the boxes to be opened Wednesday at 3 p.m. He said they will resume counting the votes when the memory cards are retrieved.
But the missing precincts could have effects in two of the three council races. In District 6, incumbent Crystal Smitherman had garnered 51.49% of the vote in a seven-candidate field; if her total remains at or above 50% plus one vote, she will win outright and avoid a runoff election next month. In District 7, a runoff is likely, with incumbent Wardine Towers Alexander in first place with 42.46% of the vote. Her runoff opponent would be either Ray Brooks or Lonnie Franklin Malone, with Brooks holding a 63-vote lead.
The District 1 race has been decided, with incumbent Clinton Woods getting more than 70 percent of the vote in a three-candidate race.
The three propositions to renew separate ad valorem taxes all passed by wide margins, with those voting yes in each race amounting to 85% or more of the vote.
Results as reported late Tuesday night:
City Council D1 (6 of 7 boxes in)
Sherman Collins Jr. 633 27.50
Haki Jamaal Muhammad 37 1.65
Clinton Woods 1,631 70.85
City Council D6 (14 of 15 boxes in)
Willine Body 49 1.97
Carlos Chaverst 348 14
LaTanya Millhouse 264 10.62
Clarence Muhammad 126 5.07
Crystal Smitherman 1,280 51.49%
Keith O. Williams 378 15.21
Onoyemi “Oni” Williams 41 1.65
City Council D7 (13 of 17 boxes in)
Wardine Towers Alexander 1,103 42.46
Ray Brooks 779 29.98
Lonnie Franklin Malone 716 27.56
School Taxes
Proposition 1 (66 of 69 boxes in)
Yes 13,512 No 1,482
Proposition 2 (66 of 69 boxes in)
Yes 13,487 No 1,489
Proposition 3 (66 of 69 boxes in)
Yes 13,361 No 1,613
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino says he will step down in January
Bongino's tenure was at times tumultuous, including a clash with Justice Department leadership over the Epstein files. But it also involved the arrest of a suspect in the Jan. 6 pipe bomber case.
Federal court says troops can stay in D.C., and hints at prolonged deployment
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that National Guard troops can remain in the city for now. That decision comes after a different federal appeals court ruled that troops must leave Los Angeles earlier this week.
Jack Smith defends his prosecutions of Trump in closed-door session in Congress
The former Justice Department special counsel told the House Judiciary Committee that his team developed "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that Trump took part in a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election.
A Chinese man who filmed secret footage in Xinjiang risks deportation from the U.S.
Guan Heng sailed to the U.S. by boat from the Bahamas after publishing footage he filmed of purported detention camps in China. He has been held in immigration detention since August.
‘Harry Potter’ fans are flying to Broadway to see the original Draco Malfoy
Almost eight years after Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened on Broadway, Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the films, is now playing him as an adult onstage.
A photographer discovers miles of dinosaur tracks near Italy’s Winter Olympic venues
A nature photographer stumbled upon thousands of 210-million-year-old dinosaur tracks in Italy's central Alps, near where some Olympic skiing and snowboarding events will be held in February.
