By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Pelham’s voter turnout for the Aug. 28 election rose slightly from the 2008 election, but still failed to top 25 percent of the city’s registered voters.

During the Aug. 28 election, 3,121 of Pelham’s 13,226 registered voters cast their ballots, equaling a 23.6 percent voter turnout. In 2008, 2,586 of Pelham’s 11,334 voters turned out, which brought the voting percentage to about 22.8 percent.

Pelham currently has a population of about 21,352, according to 2010 census numbers.

Alabama law requires cities to order voting supplies based on the city’s number of registered voters. During the Aug. 28 election, Pelham ordered about 13,000 ballots, said City Clerk Tom Seale.

Pelham voters will have a chance to drive the voting percentage up during an Oct. 9 runoff election between Place 4 City Council candidates Maurice Mercer and Jim Phillips, who gathered 43 percent and 26 percent of the Place 4 votes, respectively. The two beat out fellow Place 4 candidates Jeff Smith, who had 22 percent of the votes and Robert Sullivan, who had 8 percent of the votes.

The Oct. 9 runoff election will be held from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Pelham Civic Complex.