Counting The Votes

     Scenes from the "canvassing of the votes" from the Special Alabama U.S. Senate election between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones.

 The Alabama Secretary of State answers emails in the hour before the official certification of the election results.

Normally the official "canvas" of the votes in an election is a low key affair with no reporters present. But the U.S. Senate race between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones was different.

 Dozens of reporters crowded the office to report on the official results. Note the "Make America Great" hat hanging in Merrill\s office. Yes, like all of the statewide elected officials, he is a Republican. That underscores Jones' victory.

 The certification is conducted by three state elected officials (l to r), Governor Kay Ivey (running for a full term in 2018), Attorney General Steve Marshall (also running for a full term next year), and Secretary Merrill, perhaps running for Governor against Ivey in the GOP Primary.

They each signed the certification papers for the decisions made on December 12th, with the U.S. Senate race easily getting most of the attention. 
 Doug Jones will have to run for a full term in a few years, and there will be any number of Republicans gunning for the seat. Jones has a tough row to hoe between now and then.

     I'll be helping viewers learn about the candidates and the issues as Senior Political Reporter for Alabama News Network in 2018. 
     Watch for "Face2Face" political interviews throughout the year on CBS 8 or ABC Montgomery (and online for folks from outside the greater Montgomery area!)