Nearly 90 percent of Baldwin County voters are eligible to cast ballots today in the Alabama Senate District 32 primary runoff election to decide whether State School Board member Randy McKinney or Eastern Shore businessman Trip Pittman will fill the slot vacated by Bradley Byrne, who resigned to become chancellor of the state’s two-year college system.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the 87,000 eligible voters in District 32, and 93 percent are listed as active, according to Probate Office records.

McKinney captured about 36 percent of the votes in the Aug. 7 primary, while Pittman received about 30 percent.

Rounding out the five-member Republican slate were David Ed Bishop, Albert Lipscomb, and Don McGriff.

Democrat A.J. Cooper, an Eastern Shore attorney, will square off with the Republican candidate Oct. 16.

McKinney ran a platform including improving public education, strengthening ethics in government, combating illegal immigration and providing tax relief for Alabama families.

The Gulf Shores businessman was appointed to the State School Board by Gov. Bob Riley in September 2003 and said he has been a close ally to the governor on education issues since that time. Voters elected him to his own term in 2004.

Pittman started Pittman Tractor Co. in 1988 and has served on the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission.

He also has served on the Baldwin County United Board of Directors, Bayside Academy Board of Trustees and is a member of the Eastern Shore Sertoma Club.

Pittman said he was politically conservative and will work for limited government, encourage fiscal responsibility, open and honest government, and strive for educational excellence.

District 32 covers most of the county and touches Senate District 22 on the Eastern Shore which creates eight split precincts and caused some confusion for primary election voters, according to Probate Judge Adrian Johns.on the Eastern Shore.

Johns said poll workers at the county’s eight split precincts used maps to show voters the configuration of the districts and voters’ lists for eligible ballot casting for the primary and will offer the same information today.

“We are encouraging voters in those split districts to check their voter ID card to help avoid confusion,” Johns said Monday.

Deputies will transport data packs containing the results to the Baldwin County Administration Building in Bay Minette for public tabulation.

As precinct votes are counted, they will be posted on the Internet. Go to co.baldwin.al.us, click Probate and follow the links.

As results are compiled, a precinct number will illuminate on the right side of the screen. Cumulative votes and percentages will be listed at the left side of the screen and individual precinct results will appear in the center of the Web page.

Primary results were completed and posted by 9:08 p.m. “We hope the runoff will go as well as the primary,” Johns said.