The Madison County Board of Elections is recounting votes for the 24th District Superior Court race. Allegedly, county election officials did not upload one-stop voting numbers for Hot Springs, Brush Creek, and curbside voting. The recount will determine whether Phil Ginn, Hal Harris, or Gary Gavenus won. Andy Gibson of the county board of elections asked why only that race needed a recount. That sounds naive until one looks at the numbers. The state said its numbers are correct. That means Gavenus won with 42.65% of the vote. 8652 ballots were cast. The county had declared Ginn the winner with 38.85% of the vote. Other races with only 4000-some votes were decided with only a 5% or 2% margin. However, we must necessarily assume the state agreed with the county. I can’t find the county’s tabulations posted online in any official kind of place.
I’m wrong more than I’ll ever know, but at least I caught this one. When I wrote this, I did not know that the Madison County votes constituted a little less than half the votes in this race. Ginn is the winner.
People are still crying foul, though. Madison County has its reputation. Mike Gahagan, a minority party candidate who lost both his bids for sheriff’s office by the same percentage, says the elections are rigged. The only time I tried to vote in Madison County, I was registered (in the minority party), but I was told I wasn’t. After delays and phone calls, they found out I was indeed. They let me vote on a paper ballot, and then they put the ballot in a paper lunch bag. Madison County also summoned me to jury duty about a week after I moved there, and right after I’d been summoned by Buncombe County.
