HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — The winner for Warner Robins Post Two councilman won't be announced for another week.
Tuesday night, the race was extremely tight, with Incumbent Charlie Bibb receiving 1921 votes and challenger L. Ellis Carter receiving 1918. That's a three-vote difference.
Before a winner can be officially announced, we still have to wait on the results of four provisional ballots. Those are ballots that voters use when poll workers don't know for sure if they're eligible voters. If they can prove they are within three days, their votes will count.
Wednesday the Houston County Board of Elections started work to determine the eligibility of the county's four provisional ballots.
There is no way for officials to know if the ballots included the council race until a voter is proven eligible by the elections board. They will have them all checked before Friday, but official approval will not be determined until Tuesday, Nov. 14.
Officials say the election can't be certified until they check the four provisional ballots that come in.
All of Houston County's ballots were dropped off to the Board of Elections Wednesday, including the four provisional ballots.
"I will take a look at them determine the reason a person voted provisional and conduct the necessary research," county Election Registration Assistant Andy Holland said.
Holland says he looks for any small error, to see why a voter might have come up as ineligible.
"Did they try to register but something fell through, or a typo was made and that's why they couldn't find them on the poll pad?" questions Holland as he does his research.
While this process goes on, the candidates wait patiently.
"Hopefully if they all have my name on it. I'm the next city councilman," Ellis Carter said.
However, he's willing to wait patiently for a fair election process.
"Every vote counts, even with the recount process we want to make sure every vote counts. There is integrity in the election system. I'm confident that by early next week I'll get great news," he said.
Especially because he's feeling optimistic,
"I know the vote isn't final but, I just have faith that it's going to shift in my favor," he said.
Carter says he's mentally getting prepared to work on downtown and other projects.
"Bringing more business here to Warner Robins, great paying jobs that offer great pay and benefits. Make sure we have a healthy police force and just make sure overall the city can grow," he shared.
Incumbent Charlie Bibb says he spent the day ripping up election signs.
"This election just goes to show you voting is important your vote does matter," Bibb said
He is also willing to wait out the process.
"I trust the board of elections here in Houston County. I trust that process. I'm not scared of that at all. There's only four provisional ballots out here, and sometimes a lot of them get thrown out," Carter said.
Just like his opponent, he feels like things will work in his favor.
"We feel really good. I know it's not a big margin that we have, but we are up on top three votes," Bibb said.
If he wins, he says he plans to his hard work for the city.
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"This is not a this side this side. This side versus this side. It's about the city of Warner Robins, so when you have a team like that, a team that's so focused on Warner Robins in general then you can get things accomplished," Bibb said.
Since Carter was down by less than half a percent, he qualifies for a recount which he plans to take.
A recount can not happen until next Wednesday the 15th at the earliest, but Holland says it will definitely happen before the end of next week.
Holland tells us because of the efficient system they use to tally the vote, they usually don't see a change between the recount total and the original count.