Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Alabama's Midterms: Voters and Coverage—TPR's In Focus—Nov. 3, 2026

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Alabama's Midterms: Voters and Coverage—TPR's In Focus—Nov. 3, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

• 0:05
  Good afternoon, and thank you so much for joining us for In Focus.
• 0:09
  I'm Carolyn Hutchison, your host, and delighted to be joined by
• 0:12
  our station director, Kyle Gassett, as well as Todd Stacy.
• 0:17
  You know Todd as the star of our News Wrap show on Fridays,
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  and he is also host of Alabama Public Television's Capitol
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  Journal. Gentlemen, welcome. Thanks, Carolyn, for having
• 0:29
  us. Great to be here. It is quite a day for
• 0:33
  the midterm elections, and I want to ask each of you, you voted this
• 0:36
  morning, what was the turnout like at your location?
• 0:41
  Well, Todd and I actually voted at the same location, I think, at different
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  times. We both were in the same location in Montgomery, and I guess I'll go
• 0:48
  first because I was ahead of him, but at 8 o'clock in the morning when
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  I was there, it was pretty full and pretty active and
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  lively, and I actually actually, Carolyn, voted in a very different
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  way this time around. You know, I think the majority
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  of Alabamians today are going to be getting a ballot and bubbling it in with
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  that all-important number 2 pencil, but they asked— they
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  had somebody in line today asking us if we wanted to try doing it
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  a little bit differently, the digital push-button way, and so you went over and you
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  went to a screen and put in your ballot number
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  and you selected your candidate, and then it
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  gave you a printout, so you got a printout of your of
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  how you voted, and I checked over to make sure it was correct, and then
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  that's what I took over to the machine that scans everything in along
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  where it scans in the regular ballots as well.
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  So it was a different experience that I had this morning. So, Todd,
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  what about you? Yeah, I voted at Huntingdon as well, and I
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  went at about 10:30, and it was still a really good crowd. I mean,
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  you had to wait. I had to wait for, you know, a few minutes just
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  to through different parts of the process. I always,
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  I'm just fascinated with elections. So after
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  I voted, and I did it the old-fashioned way,
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  took a look at the machine to see how many people had voted. So my
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  machine, there were about 360 people who had voted.
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  The machine next to it, they were right at 300. And then
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  there's another machine across the way that was actually heavier
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  than that, more in the 400 range. So, and I'm not exactly sure how
• 2:27
  many people are in that precinct, but that is, that's pretty good turnout,
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  especially compared to the dismal turnout we saw in both
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  the primary and primary runoffs earlier this year. So the, the election
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  workers that I talked to were really, um,
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  heartened to see a positive turnout.
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  So it, it seems like everybody heeded the call to go and vote.
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  Kyle, let me ask you, did you see any election observers?
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  No, I didn't. Well, I mean, not any that I recognized.
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  Now, you know, I don't think that they would have necessarily identified themselves,
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  but I was listening to NPR and Morning Edition today,
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  and they were saying that— they were speaking
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  with a national election analyst,
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  and he basically said that there were probably, out of the 100,000
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  elections that were happening across the country today, only 1,000 election
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  observers that he knew of that would be employed. So I
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  think the chances of people seeing them are very small.
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  But again, I wouldn't have known, and I didn't ask,
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  but I don't think that I saw anybody today at that particular election
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  place. Now, you know, it's always interesting going in because you do
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  see various supporters that are standing out on the sidewalks,
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  and I always have to say to myself, remind myself of how many
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  feet they're allowed to stand close to the entrance of the polling
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  place and the polling location. So I always take those things into my mind,
• 3:55
  Todd. I don't know if you do when you're voting as well. Again, being on
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  this side of the microphone, so to speak, thinking about all the logistics,
• 4:02
  right, that go into all of it. Oh yeah, I think it's 30 feet.
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  And so, but, you know, it's not really that effective.
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  You need to I mean, who— I don't think there's a whole lot of people
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  that are waiting till the last second to make their mind
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  up. I was— I wasn't sure about who I was going to vote for,
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  but since I saw a campaign worker out there— now,
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  what, what does work sometimes is you'll
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  have groups that have— that are promoting a ballot,
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  like the Alabama Democratic Conference used to do that and
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  say, hey, this is our sample ballot. These are the candidates
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  that we support. And so if you have a loyalty to that group,
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  whether it's a union or some kind of association, that can be
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  effective if they hadn't gotten it yet. You'll see the yellow ballots at certain
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  polling places. But no, it was a great crowd. I actually,
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  I knew half the people in there, including my best friend
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  Nathan. I was like, man, this is great that that you get
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  to see your friends and neighbors on Election Day. It was a very positive experience.
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  Todd, I'd like to remind the listeners, for those who have not yet
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  voted, that Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal
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  has candidate interviews on site.
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  So, if they go to aptv.org and they're
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  still wondering or a little bit undecided, they can look at
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  your candidate interviews and help them determine which
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  way to vote. Sure. Yeah, all those are available either on
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  YouTube or actually just right there on the homepage,
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  aptv.org. We did, you know, I interviewed
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  pretty much everybody that's running statewide and also
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  the 2 candidates running for Congress in this all-important
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  2nd Congressional District, which has turned out to be a very
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  close and very just hot race
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  with so much attention, not just in the state but nationally.
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  Kyle, you have quite a schedule today for the
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  listeners on Troy Public Radio. Can you share that? Yes,
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  and as I was mentioning before we went on air, when the years—
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  the year that I worked at NPR, somebody told me that
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  they do have a nickname for elections. They call it Nerd Super
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  Bowl. That's what it is at NPR because if you think about all the stats
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  and you think about the, you know, following candidates is a little like following players
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  and like, you know, you've got you know, teams.
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  And there's a lot— there's some parallels there. But it's the day that a lot
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  of people, especially in this profession, kind of look forward to in terms of following
• 6:40
  news and news coverage. So we do have quite a bit
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  coming up at 1 o'clock today. We have a special on swing voters and
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  issues. And this is produced by NPR. It's going to actually air today at 1
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  PM and at 6 PM. This is very interesting because, as a lot of our
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  listeners are going to remember, that NPR has been following a group of swing voters
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  who voted for Biden in 2022 and
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  then voted for Trump in 2024. They found a group of people
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  across the country to follow and ask questions and to check in with,
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  and so they're going to talk about the results of what they learned about how
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  these voters feel on specific issues and the ways that they're going to vote in
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  this election. So that— it's a fascinating conversation. I previewed it last night
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  when we had it on air. If you didn't hear it then, I recommend today
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  again at 1:00 PM and at 6:00 PM. And then, of course, we have election
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  coverage throughout the day. We're going to be following up, and, like, you know,
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  things really don't get rolling, as we know, until polls close, and so So,
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  you know, be sure to tune in to the afternoon and to more
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  of Here& Now coming up later today and The Daily and All Things Considered.
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  And then, in the evening, at 7 o'clock is when we kick
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  off live special coverage from NPR. So we'll be carrying national coverage here,
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  and I will be with listeners from 7 PM
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  until midnight and announcing local
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  races as they show up. And, Joey, you're with us
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  here, too, on the board, and you're going to be caffeinated and ready tomorrow morning
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  for the results as they come in right on Morning Edition. That's absolutely
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  right. And not only that, but overnight, as we're giving midterm
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  results from 7 to midnight, I believe you'll have a couple of students joining
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  you. And I think it's so great that they're getting involved
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  in this very important moment and what we do in journalism.
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  But yes, so tomorrow morning we will be tracking results, bringing context
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  to the latest updates, all so that people can stay informed and know how races
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  in the neighborhood and around the country affect them. You can keep listening for the
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  latest news and analysis following the midterms starting tomorrow
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  with Morning Edition from 6:00 to 9:00 AM on Troy Public Radio. One thing
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  I'd like to point out as well is if you're traveling and
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  you want to stay tuned to Troy Public Radio, you can always do so at
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  troypublicradio.org, right, Kyle? That's right. And you can find a lot of our election coverage
• 8:57
  there as well and follow up on those news wraps, Carolyn, that you and
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  Todd produce every week as well. Right. And we'll have quite a news wrap
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  in store for everyone on Friday. I would like to take a moment
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  to remind those who have not yet voted. If there
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  is confusion about your voting location,
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  you can go to the Alabama Secretary of State's website
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  and type in your name and your birthdate,
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  and they will tell you where you're supposed to vote. So that is really
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  important because there has been some confusion with location changes.
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  So yes, so we're going to be continuing. Todd, I know we're all getting ready
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  for this, and you know, there's a lot of anticipation going into this day,
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  but I guess what advice do you have for people in terms of following the
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  media? Well, I mean, I'm— we're in
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  the right place right now for the media.
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  So I'm about to hit the road for Birmingham, actually. Each cycle
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  I partner with WBRC Fox 6.
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  That's the station there in Birmingham. And they do pretty good statewide
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  coverage. You don't have to be in the Birmingham area. They have a livestream on
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  their website. So if you want to tune into that, We're going to be talking
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  about the statewide numbers. We're going to be talking about the 2nd
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  District and also the national numbers, right?
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  What's obviously control of Congress, both the House and the Senate,
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  is at stake tonight. And so, you know,
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  watching those— I've got a certain number of House
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  districts that I'm paying attention to, certain number of Senate races,
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  especially the early ones in the Eastern time zone that will be called earlier.
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  And so we'll start to get a clearer picture of,
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  you know, we anticipate that it's going to be a Democratic wave,
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  a blue wave, as you keep hearing. We just don't know how high it's going
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  to crest. We don't know how strong it's going to be.
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  So we're really paying attention to those early states and early districts
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  to see, okay, how might this impact Alabama? So please
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  tune into that. But if you want a sense, if TV's
• 11:01
  your thing and you're really wanting to follow the national angle, there's always PBS
• 11:05
  NewsHour. They do an excellent job. But one of my favorites is
• 11:09
  Steve Kornacki. You may, you know, know that name either from his
• 11:13
  work on NBC or he actually does the football
• 11:17
  stuff too because he's just a big data guy. He's a big statistics and data
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  guy. So he'll do the analytics for NFL football games
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  also. But he's going to be on NBC tonight. To,
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  to use his amazing statistical brain to
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  kind of analyze where things are going. So you may see me tuning into that
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  a little bit and during the breaks on, uh, on my own,
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  uh, program, because I do respect the work that he does
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  and he tends to know things in, in real time.
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  Uh, he's just a real smart guy. So that's a couple of, of ideas.
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  Well, gentlemen, I do want to point out, of course, this is America's 250th.
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  This is our big anniversary. It is heartening to see
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  the voter turnout during this historic year. That's very true.
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  And I want to just counsel people, too, as I've
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  heard frequently on NPR and different places as well,
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  is remember that it takes a while to count in some places. It takes a
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  while for results to come in. So they, you know,
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  advising patience as things happen. And, you know, you could see
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  something come in and think it's going to go one way,
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  but until the official count is made, until an official call is made,
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  it hasn't really become official. So, you know, there are things
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  such as mirages, you know, where it sort of seems like things
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  are going to go a certain direction, they go a different direction. So stay tuned
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  to trusted news sources like Troy Public Radio, like Alabama Public Television,
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  and all the other ones that we've mentioned here. But remember,
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  you the voter are the ones who make up your mind, and I would say
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  wait until everything, Carolyn, is tabulated to to have
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  your final say and your final view on the election.
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  So an important day, important coverage on Troy
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  Public Radio, NPR, and Alabama Public Television.
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  Gentlemen, I want to thank you for being our guests today. That is Kyle Gassett,
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  Todd Stacy, and of course, our host, Joey Hudson.
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  Thank you all. Thank you.