By By Kerry Whipple-Bean
Fewer than 100 absentee ballots had been cast as of Thursday – the deadline – but Circuit Clerk Ken Taylor expects a lot of interest from Escambia County voters for Tuesday’s presidential primary.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the Democratic and Republican primaries.
Alabama will share the spotlight with 23 other states in a Super Tuesday primary that’s been dubbed “Tsunami Tuesday” in some circles.
The high number of races puts the most delegate votes up for grabs in one day. Usually by the time Alabama voters choose primary candidates for both parties, the frontrunner who will win the nomination has already emerged. But Alabama and many other states moved up their primaries in hopes of gaining more attention this year.
Ballots include several candidates for each party, although some have dropped out of the race since the ballots were printed.
Voters who go to the polls Tuesday will choose not just a candidate but delegates to support that candidate at the party conventions later this year. Alabama does not require voters to register their party preference, so anyone registered to vote can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary.
Tuesday is the first of several election days in Alabama in 2008, with county and state primaries set for June and municipal elections in November.