Interesting Turn in Kelly Horwitz Election Contest

Back in 2013 I wrote about disturbing allegations of vote buying involving sororities and fraternities on the University of Alabama campus in connection with a local board of education race. The candidate involved is Kelly Horwitz, who is married to U of A law prof Paul Horwitz (who wrote a letter to the Alabama faculty about the incident).

Kelly Horwitz lost her election contest at the trial court level, but today the Supreme Court of Alabama reversed and sent the case back to the trial court for “Phase II” additional factfinding for the election contest.

However, the state supreme court did not agree with Horwitz on the vote buying and coercion allegations.  Instead, it found that there were a number of illegal votes cast by college students who had not properly established residency due to their failure to show their intent to remain in the area after graduation. This basis for the ruling prompted a dissent from two Justices, who believe it is going to make it harder for students to vote in Alabama generally.

So now we have what appears to be a good result (because of good evidence of vote buying) but based upon troubling reasoning (about college student residency) and an even longer wait for this case to be resolved. We will see if this case gets resolved before the term at the Tuscaloosa Board of Education comes to an end.

Share this: