By Sonny Turner
There may be a lot of Democrats voting Republican come Tuesday in Limestone County.
The reason is simple — no Democratic race is on the election ballot — it’s all Republican.
Tuesday is the run-off election and county voters have only three Republican races to pick from with the race for the 5th Congressional District topping the list.
Wayne Parker led the ticket in the June primary and is facing Cheryl Baswell Guthrie in the run-off. The winner will go on to face Democratic winner Parker Griffith in the November General Election to see who succeeds longtime Congressman Bud Cramer who is retiring when this term ends.
Parker received 18,515 votes or 49 percent of the vote in the seven-county 5th District in the June primary. Guthrie received 6,942 votes or 18.3 percent.
“We had only 19 percent to vote in the previous election and I do not anticipate any greater than that this time around,” said Limestone County Probate Judge Mike Davis.
“There have been only 16 absentee ballots cast in the run-off and that is not many,” Davis said, adding that generally the absentee votes are a good guide in predicting voter turnout.
“The 5th Congressional race is pretty visible in this area. It has generated some interest,” Davis said. “In addition, we’ve got two statewide races on the ballot.”
Those races include the Republican race for Court of Criminal Appeals Judge, Place 1, with Beth Kellum and Lucie McLemore in the run-off, and for president of the Alabama Public Service Commission featuring Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh against Matt Chancey.
Davis said it is unusual to have an election in Limestone County without a Democrat on the ticket. All local and state Democratic races were settled in the June primary election.
Davis said county election officials would tally the votes Tuesday night at the Clinton Street Annex. He said he expects the complete, but unofficial results by 8:30 p.m.
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
