1. Absentee voting hits record level in Alabama

• Alabamians are voting by absentee ballot in record numbers this year after pandemic rules made it easier to do so, even lining up on Saturdays to cast votes.
• And as early voting opportunities prove popular, some are asking the question why the state does not allow this every year.
• As of this week, more than 145,000 absentee votes have already been cast either by mail or in-person voting, according to Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill. He said that number is expected to rise.
• The state’s previous record for absentee ballot voting was about 89,000. Merrill said there were about another 70,000 absentee ballots that have been requested but have not yet been mailed back.
• “This is direct evidence that people want to vote early,” said Tuscaloosa Rep. Chris England, who is the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.
• England said he believes the issue cuts across party lines, and that people of all political leanings appreciate the opportunity to vote outside of 12 hours on Election Day.
• Read more about absentee voting from Kim Chandler HERE.

2. Trump aide says ‘we’re not going to control the pandemic’

• The coronavirus has reached into the heart of the White House once more, less than a week before Election Day.
• White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, pressed to explain why the pandemic cannot be reined in, said, “Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu.” He told CNN’s ”State of the Union” that the government was focused on getting effective therapeutics and vaccines to market.
• Vice President Mike Pence, who tested negative on Sunday, according to his office, planned an afternoon rally in North Carolina, while the president was scheduled to be in New Hampshire and Maine. Democrat Joe Biden attended church in the morning and planned to participate in a virtual get-out-the-vote concert at night.
• His running mate Kamala Harris spoke to a drive-in church service outside Detroit and was spending the day in Michigan. The California senator appeared to have the White House in mind when she praised first responders as “people who reject the notion that we cannot control this virus.”
• Read more about the final week of campaigning HERE.

3. Alabama economy expected to contract 3.4%, rebound possible

• Pounded by the coronavirus pandemic, Alabama’s economy will contract 3.4% this year but could be on a normal trajectory toward recovery by the first half of 2021, according to a forecast by the University of Alabama.
• The assessment by economists Samuel Addy and Ahmad Ijaz said the state’s future will rest in part on how government policymakers respond to COVID-19 and how well households weather the pandemic.
• The state’s economy grew by 2.4% and 2.8% over the last two years but took a downturn once the virus flared up in March.
• Read more about it HERE.

4. Voters could remove racist phrases from Alabama Constitution

• Alabama voters once again have the chance to remove the racist language of Jim Crow from the state’s constitution, which was approved in 1901 to enshrine white supremacy as state law.
• Courts have long since struck down legalized segregation, but past attempts to strip the offensive phrases have failed. Even though no organized opposition to the measure has emerged this time, some worry that conservative backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement could quash the proposal, which qualified for the ballot months before the nationwide demonstrations that occurred in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
• A measure on the Nov. 3 ballot would allow the state to recompile its 119-year-old constitution in a process supporters say would remove a lingering stain from the state’s era of racial segregation and the legalized oppression of Black people.
• “What we are trying to do with this small measure is to bring the Alabama Constitution into the 21st century and be more reflective of who we are as a state now,” said Rep. Merika Coleman, one of the sponsors of the bipartisan legislation.
• An amendment would clear the way for excising language from the constitution that bans mixed-race marriages, allows poll taxes, and mandates school segregation. It would also remove duplicate sections from the heavily amended document and put related items all in one section.
• Read more about the amendment from Jay Reeves HERE.

5. US Navy: 2 onboard training plane killed in Alabama crash

• A U.S. Navy training plane that took off from Florida crashed Friday in an Alabama residential neighborhood near the Gulf Coast, killing both people in the plane, authorities said.
• Zach Harrell, a spokesperson for Commander, Naval Air Forces, said both people in the T-6B Texan II training plane died, but they weren’t immediately releasing their names. No injuries were reported on the ground.
• Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby said responders encountered a “large volume of fire” with a home and several cars engulfed in flames. Firefighters were able to make “a quick stop on the fire,” the chief told local news outlets.
• The crash occurred southeast of Mobile, near the city of Foley and the town of Magnolia Springs. Darby called the neighborhood a “heavily populated” residential area. No firefighters were injured, he added.
• Read more about the crash HERE.

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