4 Alabama towns go wet, 4 remain dry

Nine Alabama towns faced wet/dry referendums Nov. 2. Four went wet, four remained dry and one had not been determined by press time.

Citizens of Hartselle, Rogersville, Vernon and Boaz voted against legalizing alcohol, while citizens of Sulligent, Russellville, Cullman and Centre voted to legalize the sale of alcohol.

But for Priceville voters, the results could not be determined until 17 provisional ballots could be verified by the Morgan County board of registrars. At press time, the vote was 476 to 475 in favor of legalizing alcohol. The final results are expected to be released Nov. 9.

While most of the other results were determined by a 200-vote margin or more, Rogersville and Centre’s results were very close. Centre went wet by less than 100 votes, while Rogersville stayed dry by a margin of only one vote.  

“Certainly we rejoice with those who managed to keep their communities dry and we stand ready to provide resource material to those communities that voted to go wet,” said Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program. “We’d also encourage [citizens of towns that went wet] to bring it back for a vote in two years.” (TAB)