Patricia Todd should finally be declared the winner of her primary in Alabama tomorrow

When does the person who gets the most votes not win an election? We may find that out again tomorrow in Alabama.

Patricia Todd, an open lesbian, won her July 18th Democratic primary runoff for state legisture by 59 votes. But, the vote was challenged by her opponent -- actually her opponent's mother-in-law filed the challenge. So the Alabama Democratic Party formed a committee that will determine the final winner:

Todd, who defeated a black candidate in a runoff election last month, goes before a Democratic Party subcommittee on Tuesday to defend her 59-vote runoff win in House District 54, an area that includes both the richest and poorest neighborhoods of Birmingham.

A challenge filed over Todd's victory will turn solely on what happened during the vote and state election law, according to Joe Turnham, the state party chairman.

Todd's opponent has been really trying to stir things up -- claiming Patricia was trying to hide the fact she got support from the Victory Fund:

An attorney representing Hendricks in the election challenge said the case will center on claims that Todd tried to keep voters from knowing about a $25,000 donation to her campaign from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.

"She was trying to mislead the voters," said Hendricks' lawyer, Raymond Johnson. "Race isn't the issue here."

I don't know Patricia Todd....but I do know from following the race that she never tried to mislead the voters about being a lesbian. A friend in Birmingham (who is close to Todd, a very sharp and intelligent lawyer and a big fan of AMERICAblog) tells me that if the state party panel follows the law, Todd will be declared the winner. That's the opinion of The Alablawg, too.

There's obviously a lot of attention being paid to the outcome of this election. Pam's House Blend has been following this race, too. Pam linked to a cool blog, Birmingham Blues, which also has some good info. from the local perspective.

Because the seat is heavily Democratic, whoever wins the primary, wins the seat. That means Patricia Todd should be the first open GLBT state legislator elected in Alabama. If that doesn't happen, then something is wrong.

We'll all be watching.