After crunching the numbers from the Nov. 6 General Election I came to one conclusion: You can stick a fork in the Escambia County (Ala.) Democratic Party because it's done.
I don't think I'll live long enough to see another Democrat win a county-wide election and with the exception of one or two school board or county commission seats, I'm not sure we'll ever see a Democrat take another oath of office at the Escambia County Courthouse.
Call it the Red Wave or whatever you want to call it, Democrats went down in bunches in the county and all across the state of Alabama. And if you think you saw a Red Wave last Tuesday, wait until the 2020 General Election when Donald Trump will be riding the Republican elephant to the polls.
The only local Democrats to win last week were those Democrats that had no opposition. Those included County Commissioner David Stokes, Circuit Clerk John Robert Fountain, Probate Judge Doug Agerton, School board member Danny Benjamin and Karean Reynolds, who won the District 5 seat on the county commission.
You can start crunching the numbers by looking at the voters who voted straight party tickets. Of the 12,233 votes cast in Escambia County, 7,100 voted straight party. There were 4,176 who voted for all the Republican candidates on the ballot and 2,924 who voted for all the Democrats. That computes to 1,252 more straight Republican votes than the Democrats received. It shows that the majority of the voters in the county marked the straight party line.
Unless I'm wrong we still have no Democrats holding a statewide office and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the next one.
In the only non-partisan votes on the ballot, the people of Alabama approved all three amendments to the state constitution.
I really wonder if people realized what they were voting on. The one that really concerns me is the passage of Amendment 4 that can leave a legislative seat unfilled for up to 14 months if a state representative or state senator dies or resigns from office.
I certainly wouldn't like the Alabama Legislature go into session with Escambia County not having full representation at the table but an overwhelming number of you voted yes on the amendment that carried 7,275 to 3,118 in the county. I hope those of you who voted yes don't regret that vote down the road when we don't have any representation in the House or Senate when bills are passed that could directly affect our county.
I heard and read a lot about the high voter turnout across the state and I'll admit it was higher than I thought. Statewide, 49.80 percent of the registered voters cast ballots. In Escambia County, 47.72 percent voted. Granted, that's a lot better than the 20 and 30 percent voter turnout we've seen in some past elections, but it still tells me that half of the registered voters in this county and in this state didn't go to the polls. Which also tells me that a minority number of people are making the decisions for the majority. I still don't understand.
I went through the secretary of state's web page and looked at all 67 counties. Fayette County had the largest voter turnout at 59.53 percent; Russell County finished last with 39.54 percent.
I've heard all the excuses that you have. “My one vote doesn't count” or “Nothing will change regardless who we put in office”.
If you think your one vote doesn't count you need to take a look at Clay County in Alabama. Following last Tuesday's General Election for sheriff of Clay County Democrat Henry Lambert and Republican James Studdard had a dead heat with both candidates receiving 2,680 votes. Don't you think one or the other would have liked one more vote? Don't you think that both candidates had at least one relative or close friend who decided not to go to the polls on Nov. 6 because they didn't think their vote mattered?
The sheriff's race in Clay County was settled by a coin toss with Studdard coming out on top.
I hope you will keep Clay County in mind the next time we head to the ballot box. I can't get excited by a close to 50 percent voter turnout because it only reminds me that most of the people could care less.
