By Samuel Mattison
Alabama Political Reporter
Tuesday will be the last day to register to vote in the Republican runoff for one of Alabama’s U.S. Senate seats.
You can register to vote online through the Secretary of State’s Office’s website until 11:59 p.m. If your local courthouse is operational, you can register in person.
The Secretary of State’s Office said they reached out to the governor’s office to see if the original deadline of Monday could be extended. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an executive order Monday afternoon that would extend the deadline to Tuesday. She also said she would extend it again if state offices were still closed.
U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., will go against former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore on Sept. 26 to see which will represent the Republican Party in the general election in December.
The party primaries were held in June and saw several Republican and Democrat candidates go against one another. U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, carried the third place in the Republican primary and there has been much speculation on what loyal Brooks voters will do in the runoff.
The Super PAC Senate Leadership Fund, which has run pro-Strange ads, spent the run up to the election attacking Brooks and Moore. So far, Strange has received the most fundraising in the race with millions coming from Washington interest groups, but he placed second in the race.
Strange’s affiliation with Washington elites like U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have become the focus of Moore’s campaign as he sends emails to his supporters urging them to help combat “the establishment.”
Moore, who has raised less than $1 million according to filings to the Federal Election Commission, placed first in the primary with nearly 40 percent of the vote, and recent polling puts him and Strange in a tight race.
Democratic candidate Doug Jones won the Democratic Party primary in June and will face the winner of the Sept. 29 runoff.
The U.S. Senate race started when Jeff Sessions was appointed to U.S. attorney general by President Donald Trump. Then Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Strange to the position. Strange, who was Alabama’s attorney general at the time, was investigating Bentley at the time of his appointment.
Ivey called for a special election back in April amid public outcry. Bentley had originally scheduled the election to coincide with the state elections in 2018.
