District 3 drives Huntsville turnout bump
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Nearly 13,000 voters made it to the polls Tuesday, about 12.7% of the total voters in Huntsville's Districts 2, 3 and 4, per preliminary county data.
Why it matters: That increase was driven entirely by a big jump in South Huntsville's District 3, which saw competitive City Council and Board of Education races.
Driving the news: Tuesday's 12.67% turnout is stronger than 2022's 11.53% from 11,263 ballots cast in the same cycle, while the number of registered voters increased from 97,666 to 102,489.
- Those numbers are the totals for only districts that were on the ballot, not the city's entire registered voters, currently around 180,000.
By the numbers: District 3, where the city council race is headed for a runoff between incumbent Jennie Robinson and challenger Liliana Peinder, led the way.
- District 3 saw almost 5,800 ballots cast Tuesday in the City Council race, and 5,665 in the District 3 Board of Education race.
- In 2022, District 3 saw 3,258 ballots cast for Board of Education, when there was no council contest as Robinson ran unopposed, but even still, that's a difference of 2,407 votes.
- In 2018, 3,902 votes were cast when Robinson ran against two opponents for the District 3 council seat, per city data, when there was no District 3 Board of Education race.
Zoom in: Districts 2 and 4 went the other way this year.
- In 2022, per county data, 2,910 voters turned out to re-elect Bill Kling in his race against Mark A. Clouser and Jackie Reed. On Tuesday, 2,427 votes were cast to re-elect Kling.
- In 2018, 2,025 votes were cast in that race, and 1,980 in the District 4 Board of Education race.
In District 2, 4,691 votes were cast for the City Council race Tuesday, per the preliminary data, down from 5,099 votes in 2022, and 4,852 in 2018.
- The Board of Education race for that district saw 4,638 votes on Tuesday, down from 5,099 in 2022, per city data, and there was no contest for the District 2 Board of Education seat in 2018.
Zoom out: Green Mountain, Whitesburg and Monte Sano precincts turned out more than 20% of registered voters.
- Monte Sano United Methodist Church reached nearly 29%, the highest in the city Tuesday, per the preliminary data.
What we're watching: The runoff election for City Council's District 3 seat is set for Sept. 22.