The Latest: Turnout for Alabama vote could reach 25 percent
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Latest on Alabama's U.S. Senate election (all times local):
8:25 a.m.
Alabama's top election official estimates that turnout for the hotly contested U.S. Senate election now underway will likely be around 18 to 20 percent of registered voters.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill tells The Associated Press there's also a chance that turnout for the special election could be as high as 25 percent.
Voting places opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will remain open until 7 p.m.
Cool temperatures were common across Alabama when voting began and the state is expected to see dry weather all day during voting.
Republican Roy Moore faces Democrat Doug Jones in Tuesday's election.
Multiple women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Moore is now 70 and denies the charges.
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7:45 a.m.
More than two dozen people stood in line in the chilly morning air at Legion Field, a predominantly black precinct in Birmingham, after polls opened at 7 a.m.
Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones have both reached out to minority voters during their contentious campaign for a U.S. Senate seat.
Political observers believe that Jones needs heavy turnout among African-American voters in order to win on Tuesday.
The Legion Field precinct is in a stadium office, where blue-tinted posters of local college football players and cheerleaders lined one of the walls. About 20 Doug Jones campaign signs were planted in the ground near the parking lot where voters were driving in to vote. There were no Roy Moore signs.
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7 a.m.
Polls have opened across Alabama in the state's closely watched U.S. Senate election, which has drawn national attention.
Voting places opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will remain open until 7 p.m.
Cool temperatures were common across Alabama shortly before voting began and the state is expected to see dry weather all day during Tuesday's voting.
Republican Roy Moore faces Democrat Doug Jones in Tuesday's election.
Multiple women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct with teen girls when he was in his 30s. Moore is now 70 and denies the charges.
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2:45 a.m.
An internationally watched Senate election is down to Alabama voters.
The controversies surrounding Republican Roy Moore give Democrat Doug Jones an opening in the GOP-dominated state. Polls open Tuesday morning.
Multiple women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct with teen girls when he was in his 30s. Moore is now 70 and denies the charges. He's telling voters they know his character already.
Jones is saying decency must prevail. He's urging Alabama voters to see the race as a crossroads with an opportunity to avoid repeating past mistakes that harm the state's image.
No Democrat has won an Alabama Senate seat since 1992. That was Sen. Richard Shelby. He's now a Republican who says he didn't vote for Moore.
