Six Term Councilman Loses In Mobile

Alabama Mobile Jermaine Burrell defeats incumbent Clinton Johnson.

by Steve Alexander

Published: Tue, October 06, 2009 - 9:27 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, October 06, 2009 - 9:44 pm CST

MOBILE, Alabama - There's a big upset in a runoff election for the Mobile City Council.
Jermaine Burrell has defeated six term incumbent City Councilman Clinton Johnson.
Burrell received 1298 votes.
Johnson received 1101.
Burrell's supporters shouted his slogan, "Lead, Change, Grow," outside his headquarters Tuesday night.
The Councilman-Elect said, "I'm very excited. I'm very excited for the citizens of District Three. They stepped up to the plate and they made the answer for themselves tonight."
Burrell said one of the first things he wants to do is meet with Johnson.
He said, "My first priority is to meet with Clinton Johnson to essentially establish a leadership transition plan. My second priority will be to meet with the mayors office."
News Five went to Johnson's headquarters about 8:30 Tuesday night, but staffers said Johnson had left.
Burrell said he knows he's joining the city council during tough economic times.
He said, "We have to prioritize the issues that we're facing. And for the issues that we can address, let's address those and let's look toward alternative resources to address the issues that we can't."
Burrell also talked about one of the first problems he wants to take care of.
He said, its "the blight. That is what disappoints me most. I think that is what disappoints the citizens most, and I think that, once we beautify our community, the rest will fall into place."
Burrell will be sworn into office at the city council meeting on November 3.

WKRG.com » News Stream » Alabama

Video
Photo

Embed:

WKRG.com Related

News –› Alabama

News –› Mobile

Discuss this in the forum

Email to a Friend

Printer Friendly

Download Video

Page 1 of 3 pages 1 2 3 >

rolltide33 Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 3:11 pm

Well I know that the City level voting is very high octane and usually draws a lot of balots. I agree that at the state level there is less interest. so much focus is put on the City level because its so close to home and there is obviously going to to be a lot of focus at the federal level but the state seems to get lost in the middle somewhere.

BamaBob Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 2:57 pm

June 2 was a Special General Election for Baldwin County. April 14 was State Senate and a total of 307 votes were cast for that one in Baldwin Co.

http://www.co.baldwin.al.us/Pageview.asp?edit_id=86

It is a typical problem for all counties and municipalities. People just aren’t motivated to get out and vote. That is what makes voting blocs so powerful.

rolltide33 Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 2:56 pm

I know that at the city level there is always a big turnout.

rolltide33 Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Bamabob - I may be mistaken but I don’t think that the June 2 election was a local election. I think it was for a State Senate position. I may be wrong though.

BamaBeachBum Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 11:36 am

Well rolltide33 maybe that’s because there are thousands more “retired” people living there than in Mobile county. Those people have the time to go and vote, and they care. Not near as many “retired” people living in Mobile county.

bayside Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 11:04 am

I’m not sure why more people don’t vote local elections than national. We have more influence on local politics by how we vote. Laziness, lack of interest or maybe people think their vote won’t matter. But it does matter, and without getting out and making your voice heard you really have no right to complain about how things are. We have a precious right that people in other nations would dearly love to have, it’s a shame more of us don’t make use of it.

BamaBob Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 9:27 am

Baldwin County Estimated Population .... 174,439

Special General Election Baldwin Co. June 2,2009

Ballots Cast ............................ 1,306

There were 81,651 votes cast in the Nov. 2008 General election.

rolltide33 Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 8:56 am

Not that way in my county. We have a fairly large turnout even for local elections. They are equally as important as the big ones because these people are the ones that can make differences close to home.

BamaBob Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 8:38 am

It’s always that way. National and state wide elections will draw people to the polls, but not the local ones so much. Unless people are really fired up about some local issue.

rolltide33 Says:

Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 8:29 am

Why is there such a small turnout for the elections?

Page 1 of 3 pages 1 2 3 >