Russell County voters turn out for Jones in Senate race

Russell County voters turned out for Democrat Doug Jones on Tuesday in the Alabama special election to fill a seat in the U.S. Senate.

With unofficial totals from 18 of 19 precincts, Jones collected 65 percent or 6,761 votes to 35 percent or 3,622 for former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. The only ballots left to count are provisional ballots, officials said late Tuesday at the Russell County Courthouse. Those ballots will be counted next week.

The race to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Attorney General Jeff Sessions was controversial with Moore, a Republican, facing accusations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls.

Probate Judge Alford Harden said turnout was about 30 percent for the election. In such races, Harden said, you would expect about 50 percent of the turnout from the previous election. “In this case, we got 50 percent more,” he said.

Harden said 30 percent is considered a high turnout for the special election. With Moore facing claims from eight women, the election drew at least 55 write-in votes for a third candidate.

Two days before the election, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby said he could not vote for Moore but would write-in a distinguished Republican candidate.

Harden said no problems were experienced with the election but there was a glitch with machines before the polls opened. Machines are supposed to come on when you open them up,” Harden said. “For some reason, they didn’t.”

The glitch was corrected before the polls opened.

Jones won 12 of the 18 precincts with huge turnouts in Fort Mitchell, Spencer Recreation Center, Chattahoochee Valley Community College and Central Activity Center in Phenix City, while Moore collected heavy turnouts at the Roy Martin Center, Golden Acres Baptist Church, Cottonton Fire Department and Crawford Fire Department.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Russell County voters turn out for Jones in Senate race."