News

'Election that will not end' went smoothly, director says

By Lightning Reports, Published: November 18, 2020

The "election that will not end" went smoothly in Henderson County, the county elections director told the Board of Commissioners on Wednesday.

Still to go is the job by the Henderson County Board of Elections to recount votes cast in the election for chief justice of the state Supreme Court. In that race, 5.4 millon votes were cast. Republican challenger Paul Newby leads the incumbent chief justice, Cheri Beasley, by less than 400.

"We did have a great election," she said. "We had more people vote than we ever had before."

"Some of us have over 300 hours overtime," she said. She thanked other county departments that helped: human resources, the finance department, which had to pay 275 Election Day pollworkers; emergency management, which helped with Covid supplies; IT, which helped with phones; facilities; the sheriff's office, which helped with security; and the county's wellness clinic, which administered flu shots early to pollworkers.

"I just want to say thank you for all the help that we had," she said.

The polls had no major problems in early voting and on Election Day.

"Everybody has been upbeat, everybody has been kind," she said. "Everybody got along in the parking lot, which does not always happen."