Record Low Voter Turnout In Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The turnout for Alabama’s election Tuesday was lowest since Alabama became a two-party state.

Nearly complete election results indicate that about 41 percent of Alabama’s nearly 2.9 million active registered voters participated. The turnout for gubernatorial elections in Alabama had ranged between 51 percent and 58 percent since 1986, when Alabama elected its first Republican governor since Reconstruction.

Secretary of State Jim Bennett, the state’s chief election official, had predicted a lower-than-normal turnout of 48 percent to 50 percent because of the lack of hot races at the top of the ticket, but participation fell below what he had expected.

Bentley polled 63.6 percent of the vote in the governor’s race, which was the largest winning margin for any modern-day Republican governor in Alabama.