Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner Jr. waits to concede seat until provisional ballots counted

Longtime Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner Jr. says he is not prepared to concede losing to challenger Donald Bennett in Tuesday’s primary election.

Polls showed Bennett won the election with 395 votes or 50.51% over Turner’s 387 votes, which is 49.49%. That’s eight votes, and Turner says he will have enough to cover after provision ballots are counted on Tuesday, May 26.

Turner, who has held the District 1 seat for 26 years, said he won’t accept defeat until every ballot is reviewed. Turner also blamed low turnout and what he called a “massive discrepancy” in how voters were assigned to districts. 

“We had a number of people that live in District 1, had District 1 addresses, was given District 2 and District 3 ballots,” he said. He added that 16 voters refused to cast those ballots and instead voted provisional ballots for District 1. “I counted eight down, so 16 ballots are out there, and they will determine the outcome of the election.”

Turner questions problems with voting machines going down twice in District 1 and that recalibration issues could have caused numbers to be lost. 

Bennett offered a different view of the night. He said the results reflected a clear message from voters. “I think last night was a great message by the community to say not only do we want change, but they embraced the type of change that I offered them,” he said. He added that whatever the final numbers show, his reaction remains the same. “That’s how my take on it is right now and that’ll be a full stop.”

Bennett made plans to sit down with the Black Belt News Network to discuss his vision for the county and outline plans put in place since the inception of Main Street in Marion and his 10-year plan for Perry County.

Because there is no Republican opponent to run in the November general election, the winner of the Primary election wins the seat.