Election results are likely to stay the same
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 9, 2014 1:50 AM
It does not appear that the outcome of any of Tuesday's races will be affected by the 184 provisional and the 51 supplemental absentee ballots yet to be tabulated.
However, that will not be certain until the Wayne County Board of Elections meets Monday at 9 a.m. to consider and count approved supplemental absentee as well as approved provisional ballots.
The vote canvass that will officially finalize the count will be held Friday at 11 a.m.
Both will be held in the Board of Elections office, 209 S. William St.
The closest vote on Tuesday was in Pikeville where voters defeated a beer referendum by just two votes -- 117 to 115.
The next closest is the 228 votes separating the two candidates in the Wayne County District 4 Board of Education race.
Newcomer Jennifer Strickland captured 2,723 votes (51.84 percent) to defeat longtime incumbent John Grantham who had 2,505 votes (47.69 percent).
By Friday afternoon, the county had received 51 supplemental absentee ballots. None of those were cast in Precinct 4 or in Pikeville, Wayne County Elections Director Rosemary Blizzard said.
Also, none of the provisionals and supplemental absentee ballots cast in Precinct 4 on Election Day or during one-stop were in Pikeville and will not affect the beer vote, Mrs. Blizzard said.
Provisional ballots are issued when someone's registration eligibility cannot immediately be determined.
"We had quite a few who did not realize that moving from one county to another required a new registration prior to Oct. 10 (when registration closed)," Mrs. Blizzard said. "That happens in every election.
"Keep in mind these are just the number (of provisional ballots) issued, not necessarily the number of those that will or won't count."
Supplemental absentee ballots are the properly executed absentees received in person on Election Day or postmarked by 5 p.m. on Election Day and received by the Board of Elections no later than the Friday following the election.
"The numbers for both are about average and in keeping with what I expected to see given the turnout and the type of election," she said.
Nearly 45 percent, or 33,096, of Wayne County's 73,779 eligible voters, cast ballots in Tuesday's midterm election. The total includes one-stop and absentee by mail.