Falkville will now allow alcohol sales thanks to one single vote

If you ever think your vote in an election doesn’t count, you need to take a look at the Town of Falkville in Morgan County.

Falkville has been a “dry city” (no alcohol sales allowed) for 140 years. But last month, residents voted to either keep the city dry or to allow alcohol sales. The tiny town of 1,197 people approved the measure by one lone vote.

But it wasn’t as simple as that.

One vote truly matters

The final tally for the vote on May 19 was 116 votes in favor of alcohol sales and 115 votes against. One vote made the difference. However, the Morgan County Board of Registrars discovered that one voter did not live within Falkville’s municipal limits.

So for a few weeks, the election was in some limbo since Morgan County officials implied that if the vote was illegally cast, it should not count.

This week, town officials determined that the ballot was never challenged and it was sealed with all other votes, so it would count.

This might have caused even more confusion and controversy, but the voter in question came forward and said he had actually voted “no” on alcohol sales. So, even if the vote had been thrown out, the end result would have been the same.

Either way, there’s a moral to this story: never assume your vote doesn’t count.