Group works to increase voter turnout in Birmingham Municipal Election

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - Campaign workers for Birmingham's 12 mayoral candidates are working phone banks and trying to turn out as many votes as possible.
 
Turnout in Birmingham elections has been historically low.

The last Mayoral election brought out 21 percent of the city's registered voters. Before then only 15 percent. One group is working to make sure voters have their voices heard.

Organizers with Faith in Action Alabama were busy Monday hitting phone lines reminding voters about Tuesday's election.
 
In the past six weeks they've reached nearly 5,000 voters urging them to get to the voting booth.

The nonpartisans organization is set up at four area churches. The executive director Daniel Schwartz said they're hopeful there will be a larger turnout on Tuesday.

"We're seeing a lot of enthusiasm and people are appreciative that folks are reaching out," said  Schwartz .

"We find out that the more touches that people get encouraging the vote the more likely they are to vote. Faith in Action in Alabama we're certainly looking to increase the number of voters. The more voters we have the stronger our public officials will be," continued Schwartz.

Last time Birmingham had nearly 50-percent of its voters actually make it out to the polls was 10 years ago when Larry Langford was on the ticket.

The Secretary of State said there's a lot of interest in this election and that could translate to more voters .

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