Incumbents take a fall
Bartlett, Livingston latest to lose their positions
Morgan County voters finished what they started on June 1 by ousting the last two incumbent office holders standing in Tuesday’s runoff election.
Losing their bids for reelection were Sheriff Greg Bartlett and District 2 Commissioner Ken Livingston. They joined Commissioner Chairman John Glasscock, District Attorney Bob Burrell, Morgan County Schools Superintendent Bob Balch and school board members Dora Sanders Woodard and Betty Posey-Hackett, all of whom were defeated in the Primary Election.
Complete but unofficial runoff results showed that 20,925 registered voters, or 31 percent of the total electorate, cast ballots in the runoffs. Six weeks earlier, the vote count was 23,644, or 37 percent.
“I thought he voter turnout was good for a runoff election,” Morgan County Probate Judge Greg Cain said. “The Republican Governor’s race and four hotly contested local races made the difference. In the last runoff we had only about 17 percent of the county’s 65,000 voters cast ballots.”
Ana Woodard Franklin. a former Morgan County Sheriff’s Department investigator, prevailed over Bartlett in the race for Republican nominee for sheriff by polling 10,764 votes (53.45 percent) Bartlett, a two-term office holder, garnered 9,375 votes (46.55 percent). Franklin trailed Bartlett by188 votes in the primary. She will face former Morgan County Chief Deputy Tom Little, the Democratic Party nominee, in November.
Randy Vest unseated Livingston for the Republican nomination for District 2 Commissioner with 9,545 votes ((52.20 percent). Livingston, who was seeking his second term, polled 9,375 votes, or 47.80 percent. Vest will face Democratic nominee James Ray Bowling in November.
In other local runoffs for Republican Party nominations, Somerville Mayor Ray Long edged out Revenue Commissioner Amanda Scott for Commission Chairman, Jeff Chunn defeated Mac Beard for Coroner and Paul Holmes prevailed over Christina Holmes McLemore for Morgan County School Board, District 4.
Long trailed Scott by 17 percentage points in the primary but was able to overcome that disadvantage through hard work and a lot of prayer, he said.
Long polled 10,145 votes compared to 9,793for Scott, a difference of 352 votes. He trailed
in the early counting but caught up when the county precincts started coming in. Neel, the last precinct reporting, gave him a 200-vote boast. He will face Democratic nominee Clay New in November.
In a spirited contest for Coroner, Chunn defeated Beard, 10,636 to 8,400 votes, for the Republican nomination.
He will face Brent Gailey, the Democratic nominee, in November.
Gailey defeated Lavonne Collier, 349 to 192 votes, in the only local Democratic runoff race.
Holmes prevailed over McLemore in the Republican race for School Board Member, District 4, by polling 4,014 votes compared to her 3,762 votes.
Bentley downs Byrne, will face Sparks in November
A heated statewide campaign waged by GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Bradley Byrne and Robert Bentley ended in Tuesday’s runoff election with Bentley a solid winner.
Bentley, a 67-year-old Tuscaloosa physician, emerged as the nominee who will face Democrat Ron Sparks in November by polling 56 percent of the state’s vote compared to Byrne’s 44 percent, with 98 percent of the vote counted.
Bentley came out on top in Morgan County with 10,672 votes (53.29 percent) compared to Byrne’s 9,355 votes, or 46.71 percent.
Hartselle voters gave Bentley the edge, 1,737 to 1,425 votes.
In other Republican state races, Dorman Grace defeated John McMillan for Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries and Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh won over Stephen Evans for Public Service Commissioner, Place 1
Grace outpolled McMillan 9,691 to 8,219 votes while Cavanaugh had 9,942 votes to 7,157 for Evans.
In the only statewide Democrat runoff, Morgan County voters gave the nod to James H. Anderson. He defeated Giles Perkins 426 to 122 votes in the bid for state attorney general.
