By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News
State and Etowah County election officials are investigating redistricting errors that caused people to vote in the wrong Alabama House districts.
The issue impacted the votes in House Districts 28 and 29, according to a joint statement from local officials and Secretary of State John Merrill.
In House District 28, former lawmaker Mack Butler had 202 more votes than incumbent Rep. Gil Isbell, according to unofficial results.
In House District 29, Mark Gidley had an 82-vote lead over Jamie Grant, according to unofficial results. The men ran for the seat vacated by Becky Nordgren, who became Etowah County Revenue Commissioner last year.
State House race lines were redrawn in late 2021 following the 2020 census. New maps for the 2022 elections were provided to counties in November.
According to officials, in April a candidate whose family member had attempted to cast an absentee ballot discovered that the candidate’s race was not on her ballot and contacted both the Etowah County Probate Office and the Secretary of State’s office, the statement said.
The Etowah County Board of Registrars was to correct the problem and make sure voters were casting ballots for the proper districts.
It was discovered during the Tuesday primary that the problem had not been corrected and this negatively impacted both the candidates and voters in House Districts 28 and 29, the statement said.
“At this point, it is unknown how many voters were directly affected,” the statement said.
Tuesday is the deadline to certify election results.
It is ultimately up to the county and state party executive committees to certify the names of the prevailing candidates, the statement said. Officials continue to assess the situation.
