Alabama Senate rejects lottery bill

The measure offered by Senator Jim McClendon, R-Spring Hill, went further than Gov. Robert Bentley’s proposal to only create a state lottery. The bill was first introduced Wednesday and debate moved over into Thursday.

After lunch Thursday, McClendon offered an amended bill that added gaming options for two more counties, Houston and Lowndes, and moved the lottery vote away from the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

The proposal, favored by Jefferson County Republicans, would have set a special election for Dec. 20.

WHNT News 19 political analyst Jess Brown said the special election date would likely not have hurt voter turnout.

“My guess would be if you vote on the lottery in a special election, turnout will be down a little bit compared to a general election, but not a lot,” Brown said. In ’99 when we voted on a lottery, 1,200,000 Alabamians turned out. For a special election, voting on a single issue, that’s a very high turnout.

“I think the public interest in the vote will not be tied really to the general election. It’s tied to the voters interest in the issue, interest in the lottery.”

But Senators balked at McClendon’s proposal. Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, spoke against the bill.

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Brown said there are a number of Alabama Senators who don’t want to have to vote on any gambling related measure

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McClendon urged his colleagues to allow voters a chance to decide whether the state has a lottery.

Eventually a “cloture” vote was called. Cloture basically would end debate on a bill and send it to the floor for a vote. But the cloture vote failed 20-11, one vote shy of what was necessary to hold a vote on the measure. That killed the bill for the special session.

Senator Bill Holtzclaw commented on the bill after the vote.