BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - There won’t be much Election Day drama in Alabama in the presidential race: Republican Donald Trump is all but a shoo-in to carry the deep-red state over Democrat Hillary Clinton. But the outcome of other questions and issues is anyone’s guess.
How will the state’s new photo ID requirement work in its first test in a general election for president? How many people will bother to vote, and will they use a new online tool to figure out their polling site? And what about all those constitutional amendments at the bottom of the ballot, plus congressional races?
Here is a look at some of the issues and questions headed into Election Day 2016 in Alabama:
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HISTORY ON TRUMP’S SIDE
Trump will trounce Clinton in Alabama if history and past voting patterns are an indication.
Georgia peanut-farmer-turned governor Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat to carry Alabama in a presidential election, and that happened in 1976. No Democrat has come very close since then to winning the state’s nine electoral votes, and the trend is getting worse for the party.
Democratic presidential candidates have been stuck below 40 percent of the total vote in Alabama since 2000, when Tennessean Al Gore took nearly 42 percent of the vote compared to Republican George W. Bush.
It will be interesting to see how Clinton fares compared to Democratic President Barack Obama, who carried 38 percent of the vote and lost Alabama by 22 percentage points to Republican Mitt Romney in 2012.
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PHOTO ID REQUIRED
This year marks the first time Alabama’s Republican-backed law requiring photo identification at the polls comes into play during a presidential election.
Alabama requires voters to show photo ID such as a driver’s license, a passport, an Alabama non-driver ID, a university student ID or identification issued by the federal government.
Voters without ID can still vote a regular ballot if they are positively identified by at least two election workers as being eligible to vote in a precinct. And voters who don’t have a valid ID will still be able to cast a provisional ballot.
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WHERE DO I VOTE?
State election officials are predicting a possible record turnout by Alabama’s 3.3 million registered voters, but what if people are unsure where to vote? A phone call or a few mouse clicks can clear up that confusion.
Voters who aren’t sure where to go on Election Day can call their county registrar’s office - the numbers are in the phone book, and most if not all are available online for Alabama’s 67 counties.
For people with internet access, the website alabamavotes.gov may be a better solution. The site is operated by the secretary of state’s office.
Residents can verify their registration to vote with a simple search at alabamavotes.gov, and another search pulls up information about voting precincts including addresses and polling times. At the same site, search panes also are available to view sample ballots for each county and to check the status of provisional and absentee ballots.
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CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
There’s a lot of fine print on Alabama ballots, and most of it spells out 14 statewide proposals to amend the state’s 1901 Constitution. The outcome will affect everything from state parks to the age of public officeholders to beer.
Four of the amendments apply only to single counties. Here is a look at some of the other measures that have gotten the most attention:
Amendment 2 aims to protect money for state parks and open the door to private companies getting more involved in park operations. The proposal specifies that park money can’t be diverted to other government functions unless revenues exceed $50 million. It would also allow private entities to run facilities at state parks.
Amendment 8 guarantees that everyone has a right to work in the state regardless of whether they’re in a labor union. It mimics a state law already on the books.
Amendment 13 would eliminate maximum-age limits for elected or appointed office with the exception of judicial offices. Trustees at public universities would be most likely to be affected.
Amendment 14 would prevent hundreds of local laws - from sales taxes to draft beer rules - from being tossed out because of a dispute over legislative procedures in Montgomery.
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CONGRESSIONAL RACES
None of Alabama’s four U.S. House races or the lone Senate race on the ballot are expected to be very close given the name recognition and vast amounts of campaign money available to the Republican incumbents, but there could be an exception.
In the 2nd District of southeast Alabama, Rep. Martha Roby has faced a backlash by Trump backers since publicly stating she wouldn’t support the GOP nominee because of his recorded comments about grabbing women. Democrat Nathan Mathis is hoping to capitalize on that dynamic, and Tea Party organizer Becky Gerritson is being promoted as a write-in candidate.
On the Senate side, Republican incumbent Richard Shelby isn’t likely to have much problem against Democratic challenger Ron Crumpton, who is best known as an advocate for legalizing medicinal marijuana in the conservative state.
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