Escambia backs Moore; state sends its first Democrat to U.S. Sentate in 25 years
Circuit Clerk John Robert Fountain, left, Natalie Rodgers and Escambia Co. (Ala.) Probate Judge Doug Agerton tally voting results Tuesday night
In a larger voter turnout than most expected, Alabama appears poised to send its first Democratic U.S. Senator to Washington, D.C., in 25 years following Tuesday's special election that showed Democrat Doug Jones defeating Republican Roy Moore by more than 20,000 votes.
While the Jones camp was celebrating Tuesday night, Moore was still holding onto hope and as of Wednesday had refused to concede defeat.
Unofficial returns posted on the Alabama Secretary of State's website showed Jones with 761,151 votes, or 49.29 percent, to Moore's 650,436, or 48.38 percent. There were also 22,780 write-in ballots cast, making up 1.69 percent of the total.
Overall 40.46 percent of Alabama voters cast ballots in Tuesday's election.
Moore has refused to concede, noting there are still military and overseas ballots to be counted. Those ballots have seven days to reach the county's circuit clerk's office to be counted.
In Escambia County, voters gave their support to Moore 4,985 to 3,640. There were also 87 write-in votes cast in the county. Returns show there were also two over votes and one under votes with 8,715 casting ballots for a 34 percent voter turnout.
Escambia County Judge of Probate Doug Agerton said there were no major issues to occur during Tuesday's vote.
"We had one machine that had problems early but it was quickly fixed," he said. "Everything went smooth and the poll workers did a great job."
Agerton said he's received no information about whether there will be a challenge to the election for the request for a recount.
Natalie Rodgers, chief clerk in the probate office, said all records, including digital and the paper ballots, are to be preserved for 22 months by law. However, she said the county keeps those ballots for 24 months just to be sure.
Officials said they felt the higher-than expected voter turnout came from the national attention to race received. Jones' victory closes the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49.
A tweet from President Trump congratulated Jones' victory but noted he felt the write-in votes were a big factor in Jones' victory.
The only announced write-in candidate was retired Marine Col. Lee Busby of Tuscaloosa, who ran his campaign on social media as a conservative alternative to Moore and Jones.
Trump also noted that the seat won Tuesday by Jones will be up for election in 2020. The race was to pick someone to fill Jeff Sessions' unexpired term after he resigned to become Trump's attorney general.
Secretary of State John Merrill stated on television Tuesday night that the write-in votes would be counted. In a previous release, Merrill said write-ins would only be counted if they exceeded the difference between the first and second place finishers. According to that statement, those votes will be counted in about a week. Current numbers show Jones winning the election by 20,715 votes with 22,780 write-in votes cast.
