Joe Lovvorn, an Auburn Fire Division battalion chief and local real estate agent, has won the special election for Alabama's House District 79 seat.
Lovvorn will be former House Speaker Mike Hubbard's replacement as Auburn's representative to Montgomery. Lovvorn will be certified as the winner of the seat Thursday following his Republican Party primary win Sept. 13 because no competitors made the ballot.
"I'm just overwhelmed with the response of this community and the support I've received," Lovvorn told The Plainsman. "I'm excited. I'm ready to get to work serving the people of this district in another way. I'm ready to get going."
No other candidate qualified for the ballot.
"I certainly support anyone's right to try to get on the ballot," Lovvorn said. "I believe in the American way. I commend (Gage Fenwick) for trying. We've been working full speed ahead as if we were going to be in a general election. We were amping up and getting ready and continuing to being engaged with the community. But that we don't have to, I think is a benefit for everyone in the district."
With no need for a general election, Lovvorn said he is ready to hit the ground running as the district's next representative.
"I can go ahead and get started," Lovvorn said. "I can start some of the political healing that needs to happen. We've had a long run with a former representative being in a trial. Everyone is ready to move forward. I'm excited to move forward with some political healing."
Lovvorn said he will most likely be sworn in one day next week, and he will be in Montgomery for next spring's Regular Session of the Legislature. During which time, he said he hopes to volunteer for the general fund committee and serve the district through bettering the state's education policy.
"I'm excited," he said. "I plan on reaching out and building some bridges ramping up to the regular session. ... Most assuredly, I would want to be tied in with education because it helps with both the University and our K–12 schools. It would help if I had a say in there. I'm very interested in continuing our economic development, and possibly serving on the General Fund Committee."
Auburn student and Libertarian candidate Gage Fenwick announced Sept. 13 he had filed more than 300 signatures with the Secretary of State's office. However, the secretary's office today said he didn't meet the threshold to qualify for the ballot.
"I feel this a real disservice to the people of this district, to have basically an election where 6 percent of the electorate chooses who represents the whole," Fenwick said. "The real problem here is how (the Secretary of State's Office) handled the press release."
Fenwick said he was told by the Secretary of State's Office he would be informed by phone or email about the results of his petitions, but he said he got neither. Now, he said he may have been lied to about the requirements to get on the ballot.
Fenwick said the elections division of the Secretary of State's Office told him he needed 276 signatures to get on the ballot. A press release today from the state said the requirement was 300 signatures. Fenwick said he filed 302 signatures.
"I'm really disappointed in our Secretary of State's Office," he said. "I don't even know because I don't have a report of what the number was. ... I was told in July when I started running that I need 276 valid signatures. We had a gap of about 26 signatures. So when they say we didn't have enough to reach the 300 mark, I begin to question that."
Fenwick said he would be petitioning the state for more information on the requirements to get on the ballot, and he wasn't ready to comment on whether or not Lovvorn is now the "official representative for District 79."
"A lot of people were following and interested in our campaign," Fenwick said. "That alone should be reason enough to put us on the ballot. I understand the need for signatures, it's just how they go about verifying them is very subjective.
"If we really didn't meet the limit I would say we tried, but we just didn't get there. But if they're going to hold that information back for some odd reason, or say that we didn't have one particular form or something, then we have a problem. That's just a problem of a controlling duopoly that's not willing to listen to Alabama voters. People deserve a choice."
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