At least three candidates say they will contest Etowah's primary results with party

Adding provisional ballots to vote totals did not change the outcome of any of questionable races in Etowah County's primary election.

But things aren't settled yet.

Three of the losing candidates in four questioned races say they will contest the vote totals with their respective parties because updating of voter lists was not complete at the time of last week's primary, and some ballots had the wrong House district, and possibly the wrong commission district listed.

Jeff Chamblee, of Cox Gap Road, said he went to vote in Mountainboro primarily to vote for Jamie Grant in the House District 29 race and Lucas Hallmark in the county Board of Education race. Hallmark's race was on the ballot, but Grant's was not.

He said he told election officials, who said several people had asked questions about that. Chamblee cared enough about the issue to come to the courthouse and watch as provisional ballots were opened Tuesday.

Grant said he's going to challenge the election results with the state Republican Party.

"It's a question of election integrity," he said, adding that if "the shoe was on the other foot" he'd expect his opponent to do the same.

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He noted that many in the Republican Party leadership feel the presidential election was stolen in 2020. They have a chance now, he said, to fix a questionable election at the local level.

"If they don't fix it at the local level," Grant said, "how can they fix it at the national level?

"People move on too quickly," he said. "This is already old news to anyone who was not involved in it."

His attorney, Mike Haney, said there are provisions in the law for the only fix that would work. He said the Republican Party should not certify this vote and put the race on the ballot for the runoff vote, slated for June 21. He said there are laws in place to allow that to happen.

Rep. Gil Isbell, R-Gadsden, said he will contest the vote if the party certifies challenger Mack Butler as the nominee. He, too, said it's a question of election integrity.

Butler had a total of 2,684 votes to Isbell's 2,465 in results certified Tuesday.

Isbell said he knew of nothing in place to allow re-doing of the election. Both he and Grant said while they were contesting with the party, they did not plan to take the issue to court.

"I'll abide by the party's decision," Isbell said.

Jeff Overstreet, who challenged incumbent Etowah County Commissioner Tim Ramsey for the District 4 seat, said he is considering his options. He said he was still reviewing the issue and the ways to proceed. Results certified Tuesday found Ramsey with 1,672 votes, to Overstreet's 1,390.

The Etowah County Democratic Party certified vote totals in the single county race on its ballot — putting Jeffery Washington in the winners seat in the commission District 5 race. Challenger Carolyn Parker said she will contest the election with the local party.

Democratic Party Chair Charles Abney said Parker will have till 2 p.m. Wednesday to do that. Then things get tricky. The party would then have five days to for its executives to meet and hear the contest.

But the party does not have five days if it hopes to get the issue resolved with the June 21 runoff. The deadline to get runoff ballots to the printer is June 7, party officials said.

The larger question may be, could the problem that existed May 24 — that for an unknown number of voters, information had not been updated to have them voting in the right districts — be made right in time for a June 21 runoff?

"The state party will certify election results (Wednesday) at noon. Candidate contests for county offices for Etowah County Republican Party is close of business or 5 p.m. Wednesday," Etowah County Republican Party Election Chair Misty Ledbetter explained, "(for) those who qualified through county party like county commission seats. For those who qualified through the state party, those election results will be certified Wednesday then the candidates have 24 hours to file a contest with the state party which will be a deadline of Thursday, June 2. Candidates file contests with the chair of the county or state parties.

"Once the state parties certify then candidates can file contests," she said. "The state party steering committee will hear contests and issue a decision. Then the state party will submit names of the nominees for the party to the Secretary of State."

The candidates who got the most votes in their races had a much more accepting attitude about the vote totals.

Mark Gidley, who received 2,391 votes in Etowah County to Grant's  2,530, but garnered enough votes in the Calhoun County portion of the district to win the race, said he's ready to get to work serving the people of District 29, if God's will works things out.

He said there is a problem that needs to be fixed regarding the ballot situation, but expressed confidence in the outcome of the race.

"At the end of the day," Butler said, "this was human error."

He said "the feds" delayed redistricting, and the state Legislature held it up, making it more of a challenge for the county Board of Registrars.

"They had a really short window of time to get it right," he said.

The issue first came to light when Butler's sister was given a ballot with the wrong House race on it. It was brought to the attention of local election officials and Secretary of State John Merrill, Butler noted, and it was believed that the issue had been resolved.

He said he believes the Board of Registrars had worked hard to accomplish their task in that short window of time.

"I think we're all looking forward to moving on," Butler said.

Washington, who won the District 5 race with 662 votes to 565 cast for Parker, said  people need to trust the process.

"We need to accept what our constituents have done," he said, and leave egos out of it.

Ramsey said he continues to trust the election process, as he continues to work for District 4.

Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Etowah County election results 2022: Candidates will contest primary