The high volume of ballots and phone calls to the Johnson County Elections Office on Tuesday prompted County Clerk Curtis Douglas to call for back up, said Patty Bourgeois, election chair assistant.
“Douglas sent four people to help us in the office and answer phones,” Bourgeois said. “With just three of us, we were shorthanded.”
The former election administrator, Cheri Hawkins, resigned a few months ago, but Bourgeois said she does not believe the loss disrupted normal election day procedures.
“Everything went smoothly, and we had no problem with the machine,” she said. “But we had over 50,000 ballots to run through the scanner and had five phone lines going off all day.”
Election staff counted the first vote at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and the last vote at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Bourgeois said.
People calling the election office were primarily looking for directions to their respective polling locations, she said, or judges were calling to find information for voters who attempted to vote in the wrong precinct.
Bourgeois said a voting canvas with all the details pertaining to the election will be released Nov. 17.
John Fidler, Johnson County Republican Party chairman, said the election process went well. He said he received a call from the county’s Democratic chairwoman, Gayle Ledbetter, about some issues, but once they were addressed, “they turned out to be nonissues,” he said.
“I’m very proud to see us go to an all-Republican county government,” he said.
Ledbetter said the biggest election issue occurred during the primary precinct conventions.
“We were absolutely swamped with people for the precinct conventions,” she said. “In Joshua, 400 people showed up, which was hard for our people who thought they might have one or two.”
As for election night, Ledbetter said she couldn’t be more pleased with the election office staff.
“There are often a few snags in the actual voting process, and there was a delay this time, but that seems to be the norm in Johnson County,” she said. “I have absolutely no complaints about them.”
Ledbetter said she is concerned, however, about the devotion of the county to the Republican Party.
“Texas is basically a lost cause, and the way I see it, Texas is really falling behind the rest of the nation,” she said.
Election 2008
November 7, 2008
Short staff causes late night
- Election 2008
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Recount confirms Bailey’s win
A recount of the Nov. 4 Johnson County Precinct 1 race, which took two days to conduct, confirmed Republican candidate Rick Bailey’s victory over Democratic incumbent, Commissioner R.C. McFall.
- McFall files for recount Commissioner R.C. McFall filed for a recount of the Nov. 4 Johnson County Precinct 1 race Tuesday.
- McFall ponders future Quite a few locals considered Commissioner R.C. McFall’s failure to win re-election for a fifth term on the Johnson County Commissioners Court the biggest shocker of Tuesday’s elections.
- Short staff causes late night The high volume of ballots and phone calls to the Johnson County Elections Office on Tuesday prompted County Clerk Curtis Douglas to call for back up, said Patty Bourgeois, election chair assistant.
- Curnock grateful to JC voters Rob Curnock, who had sought to unseat U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards in District 17, on Wednesday expressed gratitude to his supporters in Johnson County.
- Edwards’ district director wins race U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards’ former district director Chris Turner won election to the District 96 seat of the Texas House of Representatives Tuesday. The district covers portions of southern Tarrant County.
- Hill College proposition expected to reappear Voters rejected a property tax measure to expand the Hill College campus in Burleson Tuesday, but proponents of the expansion said it will probably reappear on future ballots.
- Official: Delay in reporting vote totals ‘not unusual’ Johnson County election officials saw nothing amiss with lengthy vote tabulations Tuesday night in a Rio Vista election to decide whether to allow off-premises sales of packaged liquor.
- Final Johnson County election results Election results for contested local, state and U.S. house races in Johnson County.
- More Election 2008 Headlines
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