At last week’s Springville Chamber of Commerce meeting, Alabama Rep. Jim McClendon (R-50) said he talked with GOP head Mike Hubbard that morning concerning the possibility of Democrats voting in July’s governor’s race runoff.

Asked if Hubbard would be able to change the rules to not allow Democrats a chance to vote in the Republican runoff before the July 13 vote, McClendon responded “Yes. Absolutely.” He said that the issue will be taken up during the Republican Executive meeting on June 26.

While Bradley Byrne received the most votes in the state, he will still face a runoff against either Robert Bentley or Tim James. James is 202 votes shy of Bentley, according to uncertified numbers released after last Tuesday’s primary election.

McClendon said that while no official solution has been made public yet, the GOP is looking into similar wording that the state Democratic Party uses to keep Republicans from voting in their primaries.

“The Republican primary and runoff is a party event. If the Republican Party wanted to, they could just say ‘This is our nominee.’ But we don’t do that,” McClendon said.

He said that the True Republican Political Action Committee, which funneled money from the Alabama Education Association opposing Byrne’s campaign shows that “the Democrats have already had their hand in this thing.”

Paul Hubbert, head of the AEA, is known to be the driving force behind the True Republican PAC. In this month’s Alabama School Journal, there were numerous articles against Byrne that charged him with being a candidate who would side against public school interests in the state, a charge Byrne’s campaign has denied.

The Alabama Republican Party on Tuesday released final results indicating  Bentley won the primary by 167 votes over James in the race for Alabama Governor. With all the provisional votes in, and every ballot counted, Bentley has clinched a place in the July 13th Republican run-off.

 “Now that every vote has been counted, I am honored to declare victory and move forward with the run-off campaign,” Bentley said via press release Wednesday morning. “I congratulate Tim James for waging a hard fought campaign but am ready to debate the key challenges facing Alabama with my run-off opponent.”

Greenville businessman James has asked for a recount of the 40 most populous Republican voting counties. A full recount of all 67 counties could have cost anywhere from $300,000 to $600,000 to conduct.

Tuesday evening James issued a press release stating: “It is our plan to move as soon as possible in this recount so that whoever comes out on top, be it Dr. Bentley or myself, will have plenty of time to campaign in the run-off, which will be held July 13.

“Let me be very clear: I do not want to win this race unless I have won this race. It is not our objective to invent votes but to make sure there is an accurate count of votes cast.”

While Bentley will not ask for a recount, McClendon said that it would be likely that he would have lawyers in all counties overseeing a recount.

Tuesday Bentley made the following comments regarding Alabama Attorney General Troy King’s opinion that Alabama law does not provide for automatic recounts in party primaries. “I agree with today’s opinion by the Alabama Attorney General that state law does not provide for an automatic recount in a Republican primary election. Many hard-fought campaigns are close, but there can be only one winner. I won and am in the run-off.  I look forward to reaching out to the supporters of Tim James and my other primary opponents to further their understanding of where I want to lead this great state.  The people of Alabama are hurting. The last thing they need is to be footing the bill for a process that will not change the outcome. I am in the run-off and look forward to debating with my competitor the key challenges and issues facing Alabama.”

Rep. McClendon wanted area voters to know that while the primary may have been close, the runoff vote is just as—if not more—important. He said that it is projected that only 25 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the primary would likely vote in the runoff.

“If you want your vote to count, vote in the runoff… your vote will count four times as much,” McClendon said.