Gadsden has seen a decline in voter turnout for municipal elections. Here's what's at stake

Greg Bailey, The Gadsden Times
·6 min read

Gadsden will soon have its first new mayor since George W. Bush was president of the United States.

There will be a guaranteed 43% turnover on the City Council.

The bitterness and ramifications from a legal, political and public relations battle over the doomed proposal by Pilgrim’s Pride to place an animal parts rendering plant on Northeast Alabama Regional Airport property continue to percolate as that battle’s second anniversary pulls within sight.

Will those factors bring more people to the polls on Tuesday for Gadsden’s 2022 municipal election? That’s the operative question for candidates and voters — and if it happens, it will reverse a 16-year trend in city voting.

Need a ride to the polls?: Gadsden's trolleys add stops for municipal election day

Using the mayor’s election — the only race that’s on every city ballot — as a point of reference, with numbers from the official canvasses:

  • 8,788 people cast ballots in 2006, when Sherman Guyton won his first of four terms as mayor;

  • 7,355 people cast ballots in 2010;

  • 6,789 people cast ballots in 2014;

  • 6,364 people cast ballots in the initial 2018 election, and 6,611 took part in the mayoral runoff.

According to City Clerk Iva Nelson, there are 20,309 active and 2,847 inactive voters on the rolls in Gadsden. (Inactive voters are those who have not voted in a while, who have had mail from the Etowah County Board of Registrars returned or who the board believes don’t live here anymore, but can’t be legally removed from the rolls yet. Inactive voters can update their status at the polls.)

One indicator, absentee balloting, hasn’t shown an appreciable surge. Nelson said 204 absentee ballots had been issued as of Thursday. In the most recent elections, 268 were issued in 2006, 190 in 2010, 128 in 2014, 164 in the 2018 main election and 214 in the runoff.

Those seeking change in the city are hoping the turnout picks up.

Advance Etowah, an organization launched in the wake of the rendering plant fight that has continued its efforts to, according to its Facebook page, “encourage a more unified vision and effort in the development of Etowah County,” said in an email to The Times, “This is a generational election that is not just a vote on different politicians, it is a vote for the soul of who Gadsden and Etowah County want to be.”

Gadsden mayor up for grabs

City Council member Thomas Worthy, a mayoral candidate, urged people to vote on Tuesday instead of waiting for the runoff, as he indicated some people have told him they’re planning to do.

Guyton chose not to seek re-election and seven candidates are seeking to replace him, which makes a runoff likely in that race just from sheer numbers.

The contenders are former City Council member and past mayoral contender Robert Avery; Ron “Bunchie” Barnard; former state legislator Craig Ford; Dr. John Jacobs; Heather Brothers New, former president and CEO of The Chamber of Gadsden & Etowah County; Michael Shell; and Worthy.

Gadsden mayor Q&A: Seven candidates seek city's top office

Gadsden City Council races

Worthy, who has served two terms in District 3, is one of three incumbents who are leaving the council; the others are Deverick Williams, after three terms in District 2, and Johnny Cannon, after four terms in District 6.

Vying to succeed them are David Devine Sr., Amy Lipscomb, Ashton Gray, Steve Smith and David Woodard in District 2; Bill Avery, Larry Avery and Denecia Getaw in District 3; and Ricky Leath, Benji Mashburn, Dixie Minatra, Phillip Morgan, Josh Partee and Renay Stokes Reeves in District 6.

The other incumbents are seeking re-election: Cynthia Toles, to a third term in District 1; Kent Back, to a second term in District 4; Jason Wilson, to a second term in District 5; and Ben Reed, to a seventh term in District 7.

Toles is opposed by Chari Bostick and Tonya Latham; Back by Luther Abel and Carrie Machen; Wilson by Billy Billingsley Sr., who he defeated in 2018; and Reed by Singn Horn, James “Jimmy” Kelton and Chris Robinson (who lost a close race to Reed in 2018).

School Board District 3, 5 races

School board races will be on the ballot for the first time in a quadrennial municipal election on Tuesday; the board was filled in a special election in 2019.

Only two incumbents drew opposition. Z. André Huff faces Fred Zackery in District 3, and Mark Dayton faces Bonnie Yarnell in District 5.

Adrienne Reed in District 1, Nate Carter in District 2, Mike Haney in District 4, Nancy Stewart in District 6 and Allen Millican in District 7 had no opposition and were automatically re-elected.

School Board District 3: Ask the candidates: Incumbent Huff faces Zackery in District 3 Board of Education race

School Board District 5: Ask the candidates: Incumbent Dayton, challenger Yarnell seek District 5 school board seat

How to vote in Gadsden's municipal election

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the city’s voting sites:

  • District 1: Antioch Baptist Church Family Life Center, 2103 E. Broad St; East Gadsden Community Center, 921 Wilson Ave.;

  • District 2: East Gadsden Community Center, 921 Wilson Ave.; Thompson Community Center, 236 Goldenrod Ave.;

  • District 3: Former Gadsden High School Lunchroom, 607 S. 12th St.; Carver Community Center, 1030 Tuscaloosa Ave.; Thompson Community Center, 236 Goldenrod Ave.;

  • District 4: The Venue at Coosa Landing, 201 George Wallace Drive; Meadowbrook Baptist Church Family Life Center, 2525 Rainbow Drive; Downtown Civic Center, 623 Broad St.;

  • District 5: Downtown Civic Center, 623 Broad St.; The Tabernacle (gym), 1301 S. 11th St.;

  • District 6: Downtown Civic Center, 623 Broad St.; Walnut Park Community Center, 3200 Walnut St.;

  • District 7: Dwight Baptist Church, 520 N. 29th St.; Kiwanis Pavilion, 1500 Noccalula Road.

Find your polling place: Some polling places have changed, voters urged to check voting records

City officials say one election night tradition — vote totals being posted in real time in the council chambers at City Hall — is being discontinued because few people have shown up in recent elections. Results will be available at the city’s website, https://www.cityofgadsden.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden election 2022: Mayor, city council, school board on the ballot