Alabama is getting ready for the general election on Nov. 4th. A few new faces will be on the ballot running against those currently holding office.
Republican Jason Youngblood will face off against Democrat Russell Thomas for the position of Pike County sheriff.
Thomas has been sheriff since 1994. Youngblood has been a supervisor for the Troy City Police Department for 18 years.
Republican Jerome “Bo” Weed will run against incumbent Curtis Blair, Democrat, for the position of Pike County revenue commissioner. Blair has held the position for nearly thirty years.
State elections include Alabama governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. Congress representative, attorney general, state senator, state representative and secretary of state.
Parker Griffith, Democrat, will run against current governor, Republican Robert Bentley.
Griffith has experience as a teacher, an oncologist, state senator and Alabama U.S. representative. Bentley has been governor since 2010.
The race for lieutenant governor will be between James C. Fields, Jr., a Democrat, and Kay Ivey, a Republican.
Fields currently “serves as pastor at St. James United Methodist Church and as director of the Alabama Wildlife Federation and sits numerous boards of trustees,” according to his website.
Ivey became the first Republican state treasurer since Reconstruction in 2002, was re-elected in 2006 and was later elected lieutenant governor in 2010, becoming the second woman and first Republican to be elected to the office.
Erick Wright, Democrat, will run against Republican incumbent Martha Roby for United States representative, second congressional district.
Wright was a risk management and insurance major from Troy University and “was appointed by the State of Alabama as an expert on 7 insurance lines of authority,” according to his dailykos.com profile.
Roby is currently in her second term serving as the second congressional district U.S. representative.
Joel Lee Williams, Democrat, seeks the position of state representative of District 89. He is running against Republican incumbent Rep. Alan C. Boothe.
Williams is a local lawyer who has been practicing for 33 years. Boothe has been in office since 1998 and is also the chief director for governmental relations for Troy University according to his Alabama House of Representatives profile page.
There will also be 5 statewide amendments on the ballot. Tim Lockette, Capitol and statewide reporter for the Anniston Star, explains what each amendment will do.
Proposed Statewide Amendment Number One:
(An amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901), to prohibit the State of Alabama from giving full faith and credit to public acts, records or judicial proceedings of another state that violate the public policy of the State of Alabama and to prohibit the application of foreign law in violation of rights guaranteed natural citizens by the United States, and Alabama Constitutions, and the statutes, laws and public policy thereof, but without application to business entities. (Proposed by
Act. No. 2013-269)
Amendment one will not allow the use of foreign laws in Alabama courts, according to Lockette.
Proposed Statewide Amendment Number Two:
(An amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901), as amended, relating to the Capital Improvement Trust Fund, to increase the amount of the General Obligation Bonds authorized herein: to provide for additional payments from the Alabama Trust Fund to fund any bond issued; to provide for competitive bidding of the bonds; and to provide for the distribution of the proceeds for plans, construction and maintenance of Alabama National Guard armories.
Lockette said that Amendment Two focuses on increasing the states bonding authority in order to update Alabama National Guard armories.
Proposed Statewide Amendment Number Three:
(An amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901), to provide that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction on this right would be subject to strict scrutiny; and to provide that no international treaty or law shall prohibit, limit, or otherwise interfere with a citizen’s fundamental right to bear arms.
Amendment three establishes a fundamental right of the individual to bear arms. A National Rifle Association spokesman told Lockette that the amendment “would offer an extra layer of protection if the makeup of U.S Supreme Court changes significantly.”
Proposed Statewide Amendment Number Four:
(An amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901), to prohibit a general law, whose purpose or effect is to require a new or increased expenditure of at least $50,000 of local funds annually, from becoming effective with regard to a city or county board of education without enactment by a 2/3 vote.
According to Lockette, the fourth amendment would require the legislature to gain a two-thirds majority to pass legislation that requires school systems to spend more than $50,000.
Proposed Statewide Amendment Number Five:
(An amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901), to amend Amendment 597, now appearing as Section 36.02 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, to clarify that the people have the right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife subject to reasonable regulations that promote conservation and management of fish and wildlife and preserve the future of hunting and fishing.
Lockette said the fifth amendment changes the language of an amendment already in place, and states that people have the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife subject to reasonable regulations that promote conservation and management of fish and wildlife and preserve the future of hunting and fishing.
In order to vote in the coming election, a valid photo ID is required. A valid photo ID is considered any form of identification given by a government institution, an employer or a university. If an individual does not possess a valid photo ID, a free photo ID can be applied for.
Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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