Mistake At 3 Birmingham Polling Places Delayed Election Results

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A mistake at three polling spots in Birmingham delayed the final count of the special municipal elections Tuesday, which officials are saying is not any indication of a glitch in Birmingham's election systems.

Memory cards from the voting machines were accidentally sealed with the boxes of paper ballots instead of getting delivered to Birmingham City Clerk Lee Frazier Tuesday night.

Those boxes contained election results from the following polling places:

• Precinct 1130, Martha Gaskins Elementary School, 200 Dalton Drive
• Precinct 1120, Robinson Elementary School, 8400 1st Avenue South
• Precinct 2380, Five Points West Library, 4812 Avenue W

An Alabama Media Group report said in order for the boxes to be opened, Frazier needed a court order. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Joseph Boohaker signed an order allowing the boxes to be opened Wednesday afternoon.

"During tabulation of votes from the 69 polling places it was determined certain election records (memory cards) were erroneously placed in the sealed Records of Elections Boxes and/or the Provisional Ballot Boxes at the close of the polls in three locations," City of Birmingham Director of Communications Rick Journey said in a statement Wednesday. "The memory cards are used to store counted votes on the voting machines. Those memory cards and other items should have been returned to the City Clerk outside of those boxes."

Of the three city council seats up for election Tuesday, two were decided that night, with incumbents Clinton Woods and Crystal Smitherman winning their seats.

District 7 will go to a runoff in November. Incumbent Wardine Alexander faces challenger Ray Brooks.

Voters overwhelmingly approved maintaining current property tax rates for Birmingham City Schools.