The winner of the commissioner of the revenue race in Radford won’t be known until Nov. 12, but the treasurer’s contest appears to have gone to Joy Morrison, according to unofficial vote totals.
Both races were too close to call Tuesday night, particularly the commissioner’s race, with just 57 votes separating the candidates, Republican Angel Turpin and Democrat Kelsey Renee Marletta.
In the treasurer’s race, there is a 340-vote margin between the two candidates, Morrison, a Democrat, and Republican Tracy Trump.
All that remains to be settled are 164 provisional ballots, which could affect the numbers for the two commissioner candidates but won’t impact the outcome of the treasurer’s race, according to Lindsey Williams, the city’s director of elections and general registrar.
A provisional ballot provides a way for people to vote when their registration or qualifications are in question, such as when someone registers to vote on Election Day, according to the Virginia Department of Elections. Rather than being turned away, they are allowed to cast a ballot, and then election officials can determine whether they are qualified.
“Potentially up to 164 more ballots could be cast and added into those totals that we already have,” Williams said. “So it’s a waiting game right now just to see if we can get those folks registered.”
Some will be denied because they don’t answer questions about citizenship and previous felony convictions, she said.
On Nov. 12, the Radford City Electoral Board will meet to go through and settle the provisional ballots with help from Williams and her staff. The winner of the commissioner of the revenue contest will be known by the close of business that day, Williams said.
She added that she expects a few more post-election absentee ballots, which had to be postmarked by Election Day and must be in by noon on Friday. The number of those ballots likely won’t total more than 15, the registrar said.
The numbers will be final when Williams submits the information to the state Department of Elections on Nov. 14.