HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A runoff election may be coming between Huntsville City Council District 5 candidates Will Culver and John Meredith.
The results from provisional ballots, which are cast when there are questions about a voter's eligibility that need to be resolved, will determine the need for a runoff.
According to the Madison County Registrar's Office, preliminary results show that Culver, the incumbent, received 2,470 votes (49.65%), Meredith 1,887 votes (37.93%) and Tom Hopf 618 votes (12.42%). A candidate must receive 50% of the vote plus one to avoid a runoff.
Huntsville City Clerk-Treasurer Ken Benion said there are enough provisional ballots that they could potentially impact the District 5 election.
“At this point, we can’t determine if there will be a runoff election or not,” he said. “We won’t know until the Board of Registrars certifies the provisional ballots and we subsequently open and count the ballots during canvassing.”
Benion explains that canvassing occurs during a special session of the City Council where the City-Clerk Treasurer opens and counts each provisional ballot. Council will call the session as soon as the Madison County Board of Registrars validates the provisional votes, which is expected to take through the weekend. Council has tentatively set a special session for Monday, August 31, at 10:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers. The City is required to certify the votes no later than 12 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1.
Mayor Tommy Battle won re-election with 77.65% of the 27,756 votes cast. City Council President Devyn Keith won his District 1 seat with 63.89% of the vote among 4,536 voters, while District 1 School Board Member Michelle Watkins also won re-election with 87.8% of the vote.
For more results on the Municipal election visit the Madison County Board of Registrar election webpage.