By Josh Bergeron and Scottie Brown

The Selma Times-Journal 

 

All but one of Dallas County’s 2014 local races will be decided June 3 in the party primaries.

Positions up for grabs on June 3 include tax collector, tax assessor, sheriff, the Alabama Senate’s 23rd District and Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. Coroner and the Alabama House of Representatives’ 67th District will not appear on the ballot because candidates are currently running unopposed. The Dallas County School Board’s 5th District will not appear on primary ballots because the candidates do not have in-party competition.

Voting registration for the primaries ended on Friday. Dallas County residents who have not registered will be unable to vote on June 3, but can vote in November during the general elections.

As of Friday afternoon, 30,924 Dallas County residents were registered to vote, according to the Dallas County Board of Registrars.

The voting population for the 2014 primaries will be approximately 20,000 African-American, 9,000 white, and nearly 2,000 who registered as a different race, according to the board of registrars.

Dallas County will have 29 voting locations. A full list of locations is available in the Dallas County Probate Judge’s Office, in the Dallas County Courthouse. The list includes a voting precinct number next to the name and address of the polling location. The number corresponds with the area of Dallas County that will vote at the particular location.

For example, the rectangular area of land South of Dallas Avenue, West of Broad Street and East of Bloch Park will vote at the Dallas County Courthouse.

If voters show up at the wrong polling place, Dallas County Probate Judge Kim Ballard said poll workers would direct voters to the correct location.

A map of voting precincts is available in the Dallas County Commissioner’s Courtroom, in the courthouse annex and at the Dallas County Board of Registrars, in the courthouse.

Voters must present valid photo identification in order to vote on election days.

Some of the approved identifications include a driver’s license, a non-driver license, an Alabama photo ID, any other state issued ID, passport, military ID or any form of governmental ID.

If a voter does not have one of the valid forms of identification, they may apply for a voter’s ID from the state of Alabama for free. The card comes at no cost to the applicant and can be applied for at the board of registrar’s office or the Alabama Secretary of State’s office.

Several of the local Board of Registrar Offices include Dallas County Board of Registrar, 105 Lauderdale St., Room 122, Selma; Perry County Board of Registrar’s office, 300 Washington St., Suite 102, Marion; and Wilcox County Board of Registrar’s office, 104 Court St., Camden.

In order to receive a voter ID card, applicants must not have any of the already approved forms of identification.

Applicants must be able to provide proper documentation that includes first and last name and date of birth.

The temporary voter ID may be used to vote for 45 days after it is obtained.

The Dallas County Board of Registrars has been aiding applicants who do not have the proper form of documentation by applying for a free birth certificate from the health department.

Applicants who have already registered to vote can use the same documentation from registering to apply for the voter ID card.

After obtaining the ID, voters can select only one of two different ballots — Republican or Democrat. No local candidates are listed on the Republican ballot in the 2014 primaries.

Voters may also notice new voting machines since the 2012 election. Ballard said county government purchased an entire fleet of new, electronic voting machines nearly two months ago.

“Every machine is the latest version of the old machines,” he said. “There will also be one handicap machine at every polling location.