A special runoff election for a Prichard City Council seat has taken on an increasingly personal tone in the days leading up to certification, with one candidate trailing by fewer than ten votes and holding out hope that a batch of provisional ballots could still swing the outcome.
Carlton Wallace, a local barber running for the council’s District 2 seat, said he is waiting on results from a certification process scheduled at Prichard City Hall, where roughly 15 provisional ballots are expected to be reviewed. Wallace currently trails by nine votes and has said he believes those remaining ballots represent his best chance to close the gap.
“We consider it an honor to have made it this far and to be this close in such an important election for the city,” Wallace said in written comments shared shortly before certification, framing the race as a hard-fought campaign regardless of the outcome.
The runoff was triggered after the seat’s previous occupant resigned in the spring, shortly before she was set to face a legal challenge over questions about her residency. City officials said the former council member had reportedly been living outside Prichard while serving on the council representing the city.
As certification has approached, the race has increasingly become entangled with a family dispute. Wallace’s opponent in the runoff, a longtime community advocate who currently leads the count heading into certification, has said publicly that the former council member should be required to repay the roughly $35,000 cost of holding the special election. That opponent is related to the former officeholder, a connection that has added a personal dimension to what was already a closely watched local race.
Wallace has criticized his opponent for raising the repayment issue, saying he has not heard concerns about the cost from voters he has spoken with on the campaign trail. He said residents across Prichard’s various neighborhoods are more focused on finding leadership that will move the city forward than on relitigating the circumstances of the previous officeholder’s departure.
His opponent has defended raising the issue, saying it reflects concerns she has heard from constituents and that she intends to bring it before the council if seated. She has pushed back on suggestions that family ties are driving her position, saying the matter is about accountability rather than personal history.
Prichard, a city of roughly 22,000 residents in Mobile County, has faced a string of municipal financial and governance challenges in recent years, making council seats like this one closely watched by residents hoping for stability. City officials have not indicated when final certified results will be announced following this week’s review of the outstanding ballots.