Still counting votes, Loe complains

Getting a little late into the night and my main man down at the election office just cranked out another news release, letting folks know that even though all the county's precincts have reported, the Central Absentee County Board will be counting ballots late into the night.

“We had approximately 5,800 voters cast ballots by mail,” said Administrator of Elections Cliff Rodgers. “We hope to finish counting late tonight and into the early morning hours if necessary.”

On the surface, about the only local election this appears to have any possible – and really, it's super slim – chance to affect would be the contest between Democrat Gloria Johnson, who as of right now, beat Republican Gary Loe by 400 votes for the 13^th District state House of Representatives seat.

When questioned by a reporter about the race, Loe asked if this “was another ploy” by KNS Editor Jack McElroy to influence the race.

Yeah, dude, all the strings lead back to the puppet master's corner office at News Sentinel Drive. Cause, you know, Jack stayed up late, hoping to influence a race that – even if a Democrat wins – will have absolutely no affect on state-wide decision-making cause there's like a gazillion Republicans in the Tennessee Legislature and about three Democrats.

Seriously, it's sad that some people really believe this crap.

But I digress.

Knox County election officials, in the release, said they were pleased with the quick tally of the election day precincts. The final tally of all votes cast was done at 9:56 p.m., which election officials say “was the fastest tabulation of election day results for a presidential election in memory.”