City of Franklin voters and candidates are still waiting on the outcomes of the mayoral and City Council races, but Franklin Electoral Board Chair Purlie Banks confirmed Tuesday, Nov. 10, that winners and vote tallies will be known by Friday, Nov. 13, which is the state-mandated deadline for when the board is required to certify the election.

Banks took some time to speak with The Tidewater News on the morning of Nov. 10.

“We’re coming down near the end,” she said.

She answered some key questions on the minds of some voters and candidates.

WHEN CAN WE KNOW THE FINAL VOTE TALLIES FOR ALL THE RACES?

“The only thing I can say is that the state says that we have to have a certification by the 13th,” she said. “They give us 10 days after an election to certify an election, so we know that by the 13th we will have that.

“Today we will be meeting to do our provisionals,” she said on Tuesday. “We did the Central Absentee Precinct post on yesterday, and so today we’ll be doing the provisionals. So I don’t know how long it’s going to take us to do that … We are going to try to finish up as soon as possible.”

CAN YOU DECLARE ANY VICTORS NOW?

She said, “We would say no because an election is not won until we have certified it.” WHERE THE RACES STAND

As of 5 a.m. on Nov. 11, the Virginia Department of Elections website listed Early Voting, Election Day, Mailed Absentee, Provisional and Post-Election ballots for Franklin as “Fully Reported.”

In the Franklin mayoral election, incumbent Paul Kaplan had 1,268 votes, good for 40.08% of the vote; Ward 4 Councilman Dr. Linwood W. Johnson III had 1,226 votes, equaling 38.75% of the vote; and there were 670 write-in votes, totaling 21.18% of the vote.

Candidates known to The Tidewater News who mounted write-in campaigns for the mayoral seat included Ward 6 Councilwoman Jessica Grant Banks, former Vice Mayor Barry Cheatham, Jeremy Scott Houske, and Sandra Dee Boone Williams.

In the race for the Franklin City Council Ward 3 seat, incumbent Gregory McLemore received 244 votes, good for 54.83% of the vote; Charlie L. Ashburn Jr. received 200 votes, equaling 44.94% of the vote; and there was one write-in vote, totaling 0.22% of the vote.

In the race for the City Council Ward 5 seat, incumbent Wynndolyn H. Copeland received 266 votes, good for 56% of the vote; Ricky L. Sykes received 203 votes, equaling 42.74% of the vote; and there were six write-in votes, totaling 1.26% of the vote.

In the race for the City Council Ward 6 seat, there were no candidates on the ballot after no one qualified as of the June 16 deadline.

Candidates known to The Tidewater News who mounted write-in campaigns for the seat included Clarence Ash, Sheila Perry and former Mayor and former Ward 6 Councilman Frank Rabil.

As of 5 a.m. on Nov. 11, there had been 368 write-in votes received.

DID FRANKLIN RUN OUT OF BALLOTS ON ELECTION DAY?

Purlie Banks confirmed that this did occur.

“We did,” she said. “We also used what we had left for our absentee ballots. Our vendor, as soon as we contacted them, they came. The people continued to vote. They did. We used what we call our (Americans with Disabilities Act) ADA machine once a precinct ran out of the absentee ballots.

“So yes, that is correct, and I take full responsibility for us not getting it, but also in that calculation people need to know that there were people who spoiled ballots,” Banks continued. “We had a lot of spoiled ballots, and that means that (voters) made an error, and they requested another ballot. They were given another ballot. So that also helped us to not be able to have the ballots that we needed.

“But everyone who came to vote, as far as I know, were able to vote,” she said. “Whether they used the ADA machine or whether or not they received another ballot from our absentee, they were able to vote.”

She said city electoral officials have responded to anyone who has questioned the city’s process, and officials have quoted the Code of Virginia.

Banks indicated that this election surprised a lot of electoral officials.

“No one thought that it would be like it is,” she said. “More people participated in this race than they did in the gubernatorial race. So, yes we did run out of ballots, but yes we did receive ballots from our vendor.”

INVITATION TO WATCH THE PROCESS

On Nov. 10, Banks said, “We keep telling people, as far as our canvassing goes, they can come watch the process, and they will see exactly what it is that we are doing. Unfortunately, we do not get people to come watch the process.

“The same thing when we do logistic and accuracy testing on our machines, the candidates are notified: ‘You can come, or you can send a representative,’ but again, they do not participate in that process,” she said, “and so to some people it appears that we may be doing something nefarious or something like that, and it’s not the case.”

She said she encourages people to come look at the process, and she indicated that if they did they would understand when electoral officials say there is no winner before certification.

“You don’t know what you’re going to receive in those ballots,” she said.

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