St. Clair County voting deadline has been extended to 9:00

November 5, 2024 – PELL CITY, AL – a circuit court judge has ordered that the St. Clair County polling places will remain open until 9:00 p.m. CST. The move is to give voters more time after incorrect ballots were delivered to multiple polling places across the county.

Voters, many of whom had been in line for an hour were not able to participate in the November 5 election because incorrect ballots had been delivered.

A spokesperson for the St. Clair County Probate Judge's office said that (contrary to some social media posts) no one was turned away at the polls from voting; but instead, they were asked to wait while new ballots were printed.

The ballots arrived from the printers without the constitutional amendments attached.

This was particularly important in St. Clair County because there is a controversial local amendment on the ballot to abolish the elected Pell City Board of Education and replace it with a board appointed by the Pell City City Council.

This has been a very controversial proposal and many residents are upset that they are losing the right to vote for their school board representative.

The Alabama Legislature voted to abolish the elected Pell City school board and are asking voters to ratify the change to the Alabama Constitution of 1901 (recompiled and revised in 2022).

Over 55% of the children in the Pell City Schools do not live within the city limits of Pell City; but none of those parents who live out in the county are allowed to vote in Pell City school board elections. To fix this 42 year old error the Alabama Legislature voted to abolish the elected board and replace it with an appointed board that would include two members who live outside of Pell City. All five members would still be chosen by the Pell City City Council – who are responsible to no one outside of the city. Voters who live in the Pell City school district; but not in the Pell City city limits presently can vote in St. Clair County school board elections – they just can't send their children there. Their voting rights in county school board elections will be taken away if amendment one is ratified.

Under current law, this could have been fixed simply by replacing the current five-member board with a new nine-member school board. That more common-sense solution was rejected by Pell City Mayr Bill Pruitt, school officials, and the Alabama Legislature claiming that nine members would be too cumbersome.

Persons opposed to amendment one have cried foul on the lack of the amendment on the ballot.

Voters in St. Clair County only will have until 9:00 p.m. to vote – two to three hours after polls in the rest of the state close.

Voters must still present a valid photo ID when they vote at the polls.

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