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Happy29
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"OCILLA, Ga. - Every last vote counts - even if it's the last vote.
A city council race in south Georgia was thrown into a runoff by the absentee ballot of a woman who died on election day - and not the night before, as officials first believed.
Election officials initially said Tyrone Smith defeated Allan Smith 65-64 in Tuesday's election. But one of the absentee ballots was rejected because polls workers thought the voter had died Monday night. Then, they learned that she died after the polls opened.
"We had marked the ballot 'rejected, deceased,'" elections superintendent Frances Bradford said Wednesday. ... and then after we went home I started thinking, 'How does the code read?'"
Bradford said City Attorney Harry Mixon looked up the Georgia Election Code after going home. The law specifies that the ballot is invalid if the absentee voter dies `before' the polls open."
A city council race in south Georgia was thrown into a runoff by the absentee ballot of a woman who died on election day - and not the night before, as officials first believed.
Election officials initially said Tyrone Smith defeated Allan Smith 65-64 in Tuesday's election. But one of the absentee ballots was rejected because polls workers thought the voter had died Monday night. Then, they learned that she died after the polls opened.
"We had marked the ballot 'rejected, deceased,'" elections superintendent Frances Bradford said Wednesday. ... and then after we went home I started thinking, 'How does the code read?'"
Bradford said City Attorney Harry Mixon looked up the Georgia Election Code after going home. The law specifies that the ballot is invalid if the absentee voter dies `before' the polls open."