As predicted, voter turnout was rather low across the area, with only a fraction of voters turning out for the special election that was to determine residents’ senator at the state level.

“We’re still counting ballots, but with 12 of the 21 boxes counted, it looks kind of low,” a spokeswoman at the Sumter County Probate Office said. “Of those 12 boxes, 1,543 voted. I’m not sure, but I think we have about 10,000 registered voters. Either way, I would say we had a low turnout.”

In Marengo County, the story was the same, with less than 1,500 votes cast at the polls.

“It seems to be kind of low,” a spokeswoman at the Courthouse in Linden said.

However, Hale County Probate Judge Leland Avery said earlier in the day he thought that county was experiencing a pretty good turnout.

“I haven’t been out to see, but I do think we had a pretty good turnout,” he said.

Voters headed to the polls Tuesday for a special election set to choose who would fill the District 24 senate seat vacated by Charles Steele in August when the former senator decided to leave his senate position to spend more time with the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition.

Vying for the seat were City Councilman Thomas Moore of Demopolis, State Rep. Bryant Melton of Tuscaloosa and State Rep. Bobby Singleton of Sawyerville.