Tuscaloosa District 1 Runoff Will Feature Wilson & Eatmon

The runoff election to decide who will represent west Tuscaloosa's District 1 on the city council will feature incumbent Matthew Wilson and challenger Joe Eatmon, officials confirmed to the Thread Wednesday.

As we reported as live results came in, Wilson earned the majority of the 1,076 votes cast in the district with 408 votes for the incumbent but did not earn a plurality, which would have required 539.

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That means an April 1st runoff election with the candidate who earned second place, which will be Joe Eatmon, by a razor-thin margin.

After absentee votes were added to those cast in person, Eatmon earned 337 votes and activist Que Chandler earned 331 - just a six-vote split between them.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday night if that would be enough to lock Eatmon into the runoff - the city has yet to determine whether to count provisional ballots that were cast during polling hours Tuesday.

A provisional ballot is filled out when a voter comes to a polling place but their name is not on the registered voters list for that District, or if they applied for an absentee ballot but then showed up in person, or in limited other circumstances.

Those people are allowed to vote but use a provisional ballot.

Those ballots are then examined by the Tuscaloosa Board of Registrars to determine which should be counted. In such a tight race, it was conceivable on Tuesday that the second and third place spots could be affected.

On Wednesday, a city spokesperson said there are not enough total provisional ballots in District 1 to change the outcome of the runoff candidates, no matter which are allowed to count.

That locks Wilson and Eatmon into an April 1st runoff election for only the registered voters who live in District 1. Congratulations to all three candidates for running passionate races and energizing their voters.

For more coverage of their campaigns and the runoff when it happens, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.