Pike voters back Copeland, Trump, Roby
Published 12:03 am Wednesday, November 9, 2016
With all the votes except provisional ballots in, several races have been unofficially decided in Pike County.
Republican Chad Copeland defeated Democrat Steve Thrash 1,392-1,099 in the only county race of the election. Copeland received 55.86 percent of the vote.
“It was a close race and we expected it to be,” Copeland said after the win. “Mr. Thrash is well-liked and a great guy. We ran a clean race and that was important for both of us. I’m proud that the residents had enough faith in me to elect me. I’m extremely humbled. I’m thankful to everybody that helped. This was a community effort.”
Thrash said he felt good going into the race and appreciates all of those who supported him.
“I congratulate Chad on a well-run race,” Thrash said. “I will support him 100 percent. It was close race. The people have spoken. I have no sorrows. I’ll go back to work tomorrow and be the same man I was today.”
Incumbent Marthy Roby defeated Democrat challenger Nathan Mathis 53 percent to 47 percent in the race for the second congressional district of Alabama according to the Associated Press (AP).
The race was even closer in Pike County. Roby garnered 48.14 percent of the vote while Mathis received 46.16 percent.
Write-ins made up 5.7 percent of the vote. That could be due to a write-in campaign that was launched against Roby. After Roby publicly announced that she would not vote for GOP nominee Donald Trump, some Republican voters decided to follow suit by writing in another Republican instead of voting for the incumbent congresswoman.
The Pike County Republican Women chose to replace Roby as a speaker at the group’s monthly luncheon after she made the announcement.
Pike County chose Trump over Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton for the Presidential race. Trump received 58.46 percent of the vote and Clinton received 38.35 percent. That was actually closer than the statewide race, as AP reports that Trump received 63 percent of votes in the state while Clinton received only 35 percent.
Incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Shelby defeated challenger Ron Crumpton 7,820-5,020. Shelby took 60.78 percent of the vote while Crumpton got 39.01 percent.
Pike County voted to accept all of the proposed amendments except for Amendment 9. Amendment 9 only affects Pickens County and would allow for an exception to the age restriction for their probate judge.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said that voter turnout could have reached record heights on Election Day, but Pike County Probate Judge Wes Allen said that the county’s turnout rate of 58.72 percent is actually slightly down form 2012 numbers.
Pike County resident George Browder said that he was voting because it was his “American privilege and duty.”
Ben Smith said that the poll workers at First Baptist Church were helpful in explaining the process.
“They really made it easy,” Smith said. “They explained it really well how you could vote straight ticket or for just one candidate.”
Smith said that was extremely helpful for his son Benjamin, who was voting for the first time after turning 18 only two months ago.
“It was more simple then I thought it would be,” Benjamin said.
Several races were uncontested on the ballot. Those results were:
Michael Bolin, Republican, was elected associate justice of the supreme court for place number one;
Kelli Wise, Republican, was elected associate justice of the supreme court for place number two;
Tom Parker, Republican, was elected associate justice of the supreme court for place number three;
Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, Republican, was elected president of the Public Service Commission;
Ella Bell, Democrat, was elected as the District 5 representative on the state Board of Education;
Shannon Clark, Republican, was elected judge of the 12th judicial circuit court for place two;
Jeff Kelley, Republican, was elected judge of the 12th judicial circuit court for place 3;
Tom Anderson, Republican, was elected district attorney for the twelfth district;
Homer Wright, Democrat, was elected to the District 1 seat of the Pike County Commission; Robin Sullivan, Republican, was elected to the District 2 seat of the Pike County Commission; Jimmy Barron, Republican, was elected to the District 3 seat of the Pike County Commission;
Charlie Harris, Democrat, was elected to the District 5 seat of the Pike County Commission; Russell Johnson, Republican, was elected to the District 6 seat of the Pike County Commission; Jesse Botts, Republican, was elected to the District 3 seat of the Pike County Board of Education; and Linda Steed was elected to the District 4 seat of the Pike County Board of Education.
Judge Allen thanked the poll workers for the efforts.