Confusion Clouds Bessemer Election Results

What began as an unexplained election-night delay has grown into a week of confusion for Bessemer voters.

The city held its municipal election Tuesday, Aug. 25. Voters chose among candidates for Mayor, all seven City Council seats and all seven seats on the Bessemer Board of Education.

Yet no results were released Tuesday night.

City officials first blamed an “IT issue,” but gave few details about what had gone wrong or when results would be ready. ABC 33/40 reported that the delay left voters without results in several key races.

Unofficial totals were released Wednesday. Those figures showed a close race for Mayor and several council contests that may require runoffs.

Then came another problem.

Encrypted thumb drives containing election data had been placed inside sealed Record of Election boxes rather than delivered to the Jefferson County Board of Registrars. Because the boxes had been sealed, the city could not simply reopen them.

State law required a court order.

Jefferson County Registrar Barry Stephenson told WBRC that his office learned about the mistake Tuesday night. The registrar’s office still had not received the drives by Wednesday afternoon.

Reports differed on the scope of the problem. Some accounts described one thumb drive locked in the wrong box. WBRC reported that encrypted drives from voting machines had been sealed inside the election record boxes instead of being turned over to the county.

A judge later granted the city’s request to open the sealed box in camera, meaning the process would be recorded. The order called for the box to be opened at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The Board of Registrars must read the encrypted drives as a safeguard against possible tampering. It must also review four provisional ballots. Stephenson said it was not yet clear which districts those ballots came from.

That detail could prove vital. Just two votes separated the candidates in the District 1 City Council race in the first unofficial count.

Complete results are now expected at noon Tuesday, Sept. 1 — one full week after voters went to the polls.

The unofficial Mayoral results showed incumbent Mayor Kenneth Gulley in first place with 1,809 votes, or 45.1%. Former State Rep. Louise Alexander followed with 1,642 votes, or about 41%.

Darral Lerone Bethel received 466 votes, or 11.6%, while Brenita Lewis received 91 votes, or 2.3%.

No candidate reached the majority needed to win without a runoff. If the totals hold, Gulley and Alexander will meet again Sept. 22.

Gulley has served as Mayor since 2010. This would be his first runoff in a bid for that office.

Alexander represented Alabama House District 56 from 2014 through 2022. She is also an Army veteran and small-business owner.

The election came amid fierce debate over Project Marvel, a proposed $14.5 billion hyperscale data center. The project drew strong public opposition before receiving support from city leaders.

Gulley acknowledged that the fight may have shaped the vote.

“You know when you’re in politics there are various issues that can come up in an election. Do I think that Project Marvel played a part in it? Yes, I do,” Gulley told Spectrum News.

The early council results suggest he may be right.

Councilwoman Sarah Person of District 3 and Councilman Teco Stephens of District 5, both of whom supported Project Marvel, were defeated. District 6 Councilwoman Carla Jackson finished second in her race.

In District 1, Councilman Jarvis Collier — another supporter of the project — held a two-vote lead over Michael Knight Sr.

Councilman Cleo King, who opposed the data center, received 49.6% of the vote. He fell just four-tenths of a point short of avoiding a runoff. District 4 Councilwoman Donna Thigpen, who also voted against the project, won outright with nearly 65%.

District 2 Councilman Chester Porter supported Project Marvel but faced no opponent.

Two school board races, Districts 5 and 6, also appeared headed to runoffs. Those contests come as the Bessemer school system remains under State intervention.

The turmoil took a new turn Wednesday when Bethel filed an emergency lawsuit questioning whether Gulley and Lewis met the residency rules for Mayoral candidates.

Bethel is not challenging the vote count and has not alleged voter fraud. Instead, he is asking a Jefferson County judge to examine voter registration, property and utility records to determine where Gulley and Lewis lived and whether they were eligible to run.

The complaint also asks the court to preserve the records and hold a quick hearing, according to ABC 33/40.

The claims have not been proven in court. The lawsuit also does not allege that the misplaced drives or delayed results changed the vote count.

Still, its timing adds another cloud over an election already marked by mixed explanations, missing data, close races and a long wait for final numbers.

For now, every total remains unofficial. Bessemer voters may not know the full outcome until Sept. 1, with several contests likely to remain unsettled until the Sept. 22 runoff.