FROM THE COVER
and supplies to polling places or maintaining county-owned voting houses .
And the fundamental importance and even symbolic value of elections cannot insulate even this governmental function from budgetary pressure at all levels .
When the think-tank for state legislatures took a hard look at election expenses , researchers could not establish a grand total dollar figure .
“ Perhaps the biggest takeaway from our work on election costs is this : Money matters ,” the report states . “ Not that money is the only factor when making decisions about election policy . There ’ s also turnout , reliability , accessibility , accuracy and a host of other values . Democracy is not a place for cutting corners .”
In any of Alabama ’ s 67 counties , a host of factors can influence how heavily election administration weighs on the commission – the life cycle of election equipment , effectiveness of leadership from other local officials and skillfulness of county staff .
“ Most of my commissioners don ’ t do anything around elections except run ,” said Bill English , Lee County ’ s probate judge and commission chairman . He has been improving election administration in his county for more than 30 years altogether , with 18 years on staff before he became an elected official himself .
“ It ’ s a big part of my job . I love it ,” he said . “ To me , it ’ s part of our service . People don ’ t have to wait very long to get a ballot in Lee County .”
Additional sources : “ Alabama Election Handbook , 18th edition , 2017-2018 ” ( PDF www . lsa . state . al . us / ali / ali . aspx ) and “ Handbook for Alabama County Commissioners , 12th edition ) n
Electing County Commissioners in Alabama
Alabama ’ s county commissioners have a long tradition of standing together , of speaking with One voice . That degree of unity has made remarkable achievements possible , and it is even more noteworthy when you consider variations among the 67 counties .
This variety is evident when you take a look at the 2018 election cycle at the county level . Fifty counties have one or more commission seats on the ballot this year , and there are some interesting variations in exactly how each commission is structured and elected .
The traditional district system may be most familiar – with each commissioner living in a designated geographic area and only accountable to voters also living in that area – but that is far from the only option .
All commissioners are required to serve full-time in Lamar Co . and 10 others ( Blount , Cullman , Limestone , Madison , Marion , Marshall , Mobile , Morgan , Tuscaloosa & Walker )
Each Baldwin Co . commissioner represents one of the four districts and must live in that district . But they all campaign countywide , in a county that is bigger in land area than the state of Rhode Island . Other counties where district commissioners run countywide include Cherokee , Covington , Franklin , Jackson , Morgan & St . Clair .
12 | COUNTY COMMISSION