Super Tuesday in Alabama

When Alabama's legislature moved the primary from June to February, they had one thing in mind: helping Alabamans have more of a say in who their party nominates.

In previous elections, the presidential nominee was decided long before the state's primary.

Most voters I spoke with said Alabama is still not a major force in the nomination scene. Bob Lake, who is Executive Director of the West Alabama Regional Commission, said one of the reasons Alabama lags behind other states is because the state splits its delegates.

"It's a numerical game," Lake said. "We don't have the impact of California."

California has 441 Democratic delegates and 173 Republican delegates compared to Alabama's 60 Democratic and 48 Republican.

Like many other voters, Lake said the economy was the top priority on his mind.

"All I know is I'm 64, and I had the best eight years of my life under Bill Clinton," he said. "I voted Hillary [Clinton] because if she's going to bring back some of Bill's policies then I'm in good shape."

Lake said while he voted for Clinton he wasn't too excited about any of the candidates this year.

"We need to look at these candidates and ask ourselves if these candidates are the best our country could come up with," he said. "I don't think they are."

Those sentiments were echoed through each conversation.

Sherry Rose, a volunteer at the Moundville precinct, said many voters weren't sure on which ticket or candidate to vote for.

"We've had people come in and ask to see the sheets," Rose said.

She said some were confused about the positions of the candidates, while others switched between the tickets every few minutes.

She said even though people were confused, turnout was higher than they expected.

Carol Sims, a local resident, said she was surprised the turnout wasn't larger given the emphasis the state has seen from candidates.

Sims said the war in Iraq is one of the main issues she looks at in each campaign.

"If we can get out of there then everything else will fall into place," she said.

By the time the trains rolled through town, which is usually in the late afternoon, nearly 500 votes were cast. Sixty-one percent of those were for the Democrats. In the 2004 general election, 1,300 voters showed up at the precinct.

Officials felt confident they would be able to reach that amount. They said the higher morning turnout might lead to a slower night though since severe weather is expected in the area.