HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — A local race left two candidates' results neck-in-neck after Election Day. Today, the board announced the incumbent won by one vote.
On election night, 13WMAZ reported that Bibb received 1,921 votes and Carter received 1,918 — only three votes between the candidates with four provisional ballots outstanding.
Two of the provisional ballots came from early voters who showed up to try to vote again on Election Day. Those ballots were rejected and not counted.
Two other ballots were accepted from the Mossy Creek Middle location, each counted for challenger Ellis Carter.
That brought the total margin between the two candidates to a single vote, leaving the current and unofficial tally at 1,921 for Bibb and 1,920 for Carter.
Once the votes were certified, the board counted the votes again, Elections Supervisor Debra Presswood said, because of the extremely close margin.
Presswood said no candidate personally requested the recount, and she invited candidate Carter to observe the counting process.
Under Georgia law, any second-place candidate who loses by under 0.5% can call for a recount. In the city council race, Bibb won by less than that amount and Carter is within his legal ability to order a recount.
A candidate can call for a recount only once the election results are officially certified. The deadline to submit those unofficial results is Tuesday at 5 p.m..
A candidate would have to ask for a recount, which Carter told 13WMAZ he plans to do when the vote tally is officially certified. He says he wants to make sure every voter is heard and all provisional ballots counted.
Bibb also is facing allegations that he broke Election Day rules.
Bibb was allegedly campaigning at two separate polling locations at two separate times on Tuesday, Nov. 7: The Houston Healthcare Roy H. “Sonny” Watson Health Pavilion and Mossy Creek Middle School.
"No laws were broken at the Pavilion," Henry Freeman, Property Manager of the Houston Healthcare Pavilion said.
However, a Houston County Democrat member alleges they saw the councilman inside the middle school precinct just before polls closed at 7 p.m..
According to the organization's original press release, Kristen Kiefer says she witnessed:
"Candidate Bibb sitting in his parked vehicle in front of her car,
Candidate Bibb exiting his vehicle wearing his campaign shirt, at which time he waved to Mrs. Kiefer AND spoke to a poll worker upon entering Mossy Creek Middle School
Candidate Bibb entering the polling location itself,
Candidate Bibb sat down in plain view of poll workers/monitors in front of the registration table while voters were inside the location and other voters entered,
Candidate Bibb remained inside the Mossy Creek Middle School location, after the last voters exited the building,
Candidate Bibb remained on site and inside for 10-15 additional minutes conversing with poll workers."
During Tuesday's board of elections meeting, she publicly declared what she witnessed.
Jonathan Johnson, the president of the Houston County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), commended Kiefer for informing the county board of elections office during the alleged incident.
"We need to give her a round of applause, because that's why we're here today," Johnson said as the crowd clapped.
"Every ballot cast should be valid," Kiefer said during public comments. "Nothing that a candidate did should not make anybody's vote not count."
Kiefer was the first to speak up at the meeting about allegedly seeing candidate Bibb at the Mossy Creek Middle School precinct before polls closed.
"We passed each other on the way out as well, I got a clear look at him then too," Kiefer said. "At some point, like I said, I looked at my own pictures when sending them and thought, 'These are probably kinda terrible pictures, but what am I gonna do? I can't get any closer.'"
As a campaigner and member of a political organization, Kiefer said she's always known the rules and laws that have been in place to prevent voter intimidation.
For that reason, she says, she did not feel comfortable getting closer to the school to ensure she herself would not break any laws.
"The same rules should apply to everyone in elections and in life in general," Kiefer said. "I think our public officials should hold themselves to the same standard."
Along with Kiefer , three other people publicly agreed the councilman should be held accountable if the accusations are true.
One person said, if the allegations are true, "it's inexcusable."
Another chimed in: "I just don't know if he was just that arrogant or what for him to do something like that."
As a result of the accusations shared in the public record, the chairman said, the board will now conduct an investigation into the allegations.
"Through the board meeting process, from what we heard in public comment, we're concerned about that," Childs said. "We'll put together a team, a committee, to go out and do that investigation."
If the board finds the allegations to be true, it will pass the information on to the secretary of state's office who, with the state board of elections, will determine what actions must be taken.
According to Georgia Election Codes, anyone violating the law is guilty of a misdemeanor.