At least two races in Pulaski County are up in the air as a team of 20 Election Commission workers completes today the job of counting some 6,000 mail absentee ballots. About 4,000 got counted in a 12-hour day Tuesday. Election Co-ordinator Susan Inman said the crew resumed counting about 2,000 ballots this morning. They should complete the job by the end of the day.
At issue: The House District 38 race, where Democrat John Edwards has a 71-vote lead over Republican Kelly Eichler. Representatives of both candidates are watching the hand counting. There’s also the JP race in which Democrat Kathy Lewison has a 101-vote lead over Republican Sid Rosenbaum.
There’s no way to know how many of the absentees left uncounted until today have votes in those races. Inman says there are also some 100 or so military ballots yet to be considered.