Perry County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Carlton Hogue has cast a tie-breaking vote declaring Donald Bennett Sr. the Democratic nominee for Perry County Commission District 1, after a court-ordered recount of the May 19 primary ended in a 398-398 tie.
Albert Turner Jr., who has held the seat since 2000, says he will contest the decision to the State Democratic Executive Committee.
In a three-page letter dated Monday and addressed to state party chair Dr. Randy B. Kelley and Contest Committee chair Ben H. Harris III, Hogue reported that the recount conducted July 9 changed the certified totals from a one-vote Bennett victory to an exact tie.
Citing Alabama Code Section 17-13-21, which provides that a tie vote in a primary for a county office shall be decided by the chair of the county executive committee, Hogue wrote that he cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of Bennett.
The letter reports the final result as Bennett 399, Turner 398, and states that Bennett “remains the duly selected and certified Democratic nominee” without prejudice to his prior certification.
According to an affidavit of service posted publicly Tuesday, Hogue hand-delivered the report to the Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee in Montgomery at 9:15 a.m. that morning.
The recount, ordered by the state party in late June after it ruled Turner’s recount request timely but his formal election contest late, took about seven hours to complete.
WAKA reported that 35 ballots were discovered missing partway through the process before being located by election officials and counted.
Hogue’s letter notes that the state committee’s June 25 decision expressly found Turner did not file his contest within the 24-hour window required by Alabama Code Sections 17-13-70 and 17-13-80.
Turner’s campaign maintains that irregularities occurred in the May 19 election and during the recount. In a post on his official page, the campaign said two ballots clearly indicating voter intent for Turner were rejected by Hogue during the recount, and that an impartial review of the disputed ballots would make Turner the outright winner.
The campaign had previously requested neutral third-party oversight of the recount, citing what it called Hogue’s perceived bias toward Bennett.
The recount result triggered the return of the $8,500 security bond Turner posted to secure the recount, with the local party now responsible for those costs.
One disputed ballot has itself become a point of contention.
Turner posted a photograph of a ballot on July 10 that he said showed a vote for him.
Independent journalist Robert Shepherd, who has tracked the dispute closely on social media, said the ballot was rejected by tabulation equipment in both counts because the voter marked both candidates’ names, and has publicly questioned whether photographing another voter’s ballot during a recount is permissible under Alabama Code Section 17-9-50.1.
Bennett, in a statement, thanked District 1 voters for their patience and said he was “grateful for a Democratic Executive Committee that followed the law and saw this matter through with integrity.”
He said he remains committed to serving the district.
Hogue’s dual role as probate judge and county party chairman has drawn continued criticism from Turner supporters throughout the dispute, and some residents have publicly questioned the certification’s presentation of the tie-breaking vote as an additional vote in Bennett’s total rather than as a separate resolution of a 398-398 tie.
Because no Republican qualified for the seat, the Democratic nominee is on track to take office following the November 3 general election.
