Ballots are still being counted in several states across the national to determine the winner of the presidential election – and, in Tipton County, one race’s results are incredibly close.
When the early and absentee ballots were counted Tuesday night, Munford Mayor Dwayne Cole was 38 votes behind challenger Glenn Turner.
That changed later when the election day results were released.
Cole was up by just 13 votes and currently has 31 more votes than Turner.
“I’m getting congratulations everywhere,” said Cole, “but we do have provisional ballots remaining to be counted.”
There are different types of provisional ballots, said Tipton County Administrator of Elections Cindy Pinner, and some voters have until 5 p.m. Thursday to bring a valid photo ID to the election commission before their votes will be counted.
There were considerably more provisional ballots this election than in years past, too, and they’ll take days to go through.
“I don’t know enough about the provisional ballots yet to know if they’ll make a difference in the Munford mayor election,” Pinner said.
So the race could already be decided or it may not be, it just depends.
Both Cole and Turner said they knew it’d be a close race.
“When I saw all of the signs popping up I knew it’d be close,” Turner said. “I felt like I gave it a good run. It appears Mayor Cole has won, so we’ll have to put the election behind us and continue working together for Munford.”
Though Turner has conceded the race, Cole is cautious about claiming a victory.
“We’re going to just hope and pray they don’t alter the outcome, but I don’t think there are enough to change the vote totals. We’re going to just wait and see.”
Turner, who is also a county commissioner, will remain an alderman. He is up for re-election in 2022.
Lonnie Glass and Ray Deneka won their bids for re-election as aldermen and a write-in candidate, presumed to be Deborah Reed, came in third.
Three spots on the board were up for grabs.
Reed is the first Black alderman in Munford’s history.
Author: Echo Day
Echo Day is an award-winning journalist, photographer and designer. She is currently The Leader's managing editor.
