Madison Co. Election Commission finishes counting 64 paper ballots

JACKSON, Tenn. — Election Day was a week ago, but votes were still being counted in Madison County on Tuesday because 64 paper ballots were cast due to an electrical outage.

“These votes will not change the outcome of the election in Madison County or anywhere,” Madison County administrator of elections Kim Buckley said.

But those 64 votes were given just as much care as the others.

“We promised the voters that every vote would be counted, and that’s what we’re doing here today,” Buckley said.

While controversy remains across the country about legally cast ballots, this bipartisan group counted the remaining ballots in Madison County, including Republican Mike Bledsoe and Democrat David Johnson.

“It goes to prove that it’s done fair and equal on each side,” Bledsoe said.

“That lends integrity to the process,” Johnson said.

“I grew up with this man here, David, from the first grade on. We know each other. We know that there’s no under-the-table stuff going on with this board,” Bledsoe said.

Everything about the counting process was done together, from opening the boxes to sorting ballots to recording the votes. Even solving discrepencies.

The process is time-consuming, but your vote still matters no matter how it’s cast.

“They bring all different viewpoints to the table, but they have good integrity, and they trust each other’s integrity, and that’s worked well for us through the years,” Buckley said.

Buckley says typically these ballots would be scanned electronically, but because there were only 64, it wasn’t cost or time-efficient.

Buckley said they had a little over 3,000 paper ballots to count. To get it done quickly, they recruited more people and rented more scanners.