GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Guntersville City Council held a meeting to canvass election results a little earlier than expected on Friday and the mayoral race now stands at a perfect tie.
On Tuesday, the Guntersville Mayoral Race ended with Incumbent Mayor Leigh Dollar beating challenger Jeff McLaughlin by only a single vote, but there were still several provisional ballots left to count.
During a special called meeting on Friday to canvass the election results, City Clerk Betty Jones said the city had 10 provisional ballots between regular and absentee ballots. Ultimately, Jones said the Marshall County Board of Registrars found that seven of those votes could be counted.
During the meeting, Jones counted those ballots with four votes going to McLaughlin and three going to Dollar. This brings the final vote tally to Dollar with 1065 votes and McLaughlin with 1065 votes.
“I think as election manager, I have to declare there will be a runoff on Sept. 23,” Jones said after confirming the tie.
Generally, Alabama municipalities canvass elections on the first Tuesday after an election, as Gunterville officials told News 19 they were planning to do. However, according to the Alabama League of Municipalities, the law does allow for cities to canvass results early if the Board of Registrars returns the provisional ballots before the next Tuesday or if there are no provisional ballots.
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