Knoxville Democrat seeks court order on provisional ballots; Election Commissioner Missing

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WVLT) – Democratic candidate Gloria Johnson is asking a judge to order the Knox County election commission to release the names of voters who cast provisional ballots in her state House race.

Johnson has refused to concede to Republican incumbent Rep. Eddie Smith, arguing that her 154-vote deficit could be made up if the provisional ballots are counted.

Voters who don’t have proper identification can cast provisional ballots and then return within 48 hours to present their IDs.

Johnson says election officials don’t plan to look at provisional ballots until after that deadline has passed.

Johnson says 597 provisional ballots were cast in the county, though she doesn’t know how many were filled out in her race.

The close race was a rematch from two years ago, when Smith narrowly defeated Johnson, who was then the incumbent.

Mary Mancini released the following statement after being told that the Knox County Election Commissioner hasn’t been seen in the office all day:
“With less than 200 votes separating incumbent Eddie Smith from challenger Gloria Johnson, when more than enough provisional ballots exist to affect the results, with only 15 minutes left in their business day, and when voters only have a couple of more hours to have their votes counted, it is inexcusable that we are being told that the Administrator of the Knox County Election Commission, Cliff Rodgers, has not been seen all day.

All Images came from our affiliate in Knoxville WVLT Local 8 News, for the link to their story click here.

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11/10/2016 3:03:32 PM (GMT -5:00)