MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Voting can give a person a tingle. It’s the feeling of freedom. Presidential elections are when more people vote than normal, and this year’s early voting has been a busy time.
Next Tuesday is the big day. The folks in charge of Shelby County’s elections say, they’ve got everything worked out. “We have had enough time, this time, to have folks double, triple and quadruple check our work,” said Shelby County Elections Supervisor Richard Holden.
We hope so. Last August was a mess. An audit by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office threw the blame right at the election workers. They messed around, according to the audit, and didn’t put plans together until the very last minute. By the time they got busy, their backs were against the wall. “In August, we had enough time to barely get the work done,” Holden said. “We didn’t have the time that we had planned to double, triple and quadruple check it.”
The mistakes were so serious that at least one candidate wants a brand new vote in his race, and is claiming that more than eight hundred votes went to the wrong candidate. That was bad enough, but Shelby County has had elections troubles for years. The word from the Secretary of State and the Tennessee elections boss is, things better go virtually mistake free in Shelby County, or some Shelby County elections folks will be looking for new jobs. “I think everybody in Shelby County is aware of that,” Holden said.
