According to the Times-News, Election Commission member James Holmes, a Republican, asked the Sullivan County Election Commission on Tuesday to add an “early voting deputy” to the roster of election workers in Sullivan County.
Holmes had brought with him a book containing the section of Tennessee state law dealing with elections.
He called the group’s attention to a section of the law that says members of the minority party may appoint an “early voting deputy” to serve during the early voting period and to be paid at the same rate as election officers. (Under Tennessee law, the makeup of county election commissions in the state reflects the makeup of the state’s General Assembly — a majority of which is currently Democratic. Sullivan County’s five-member Election Commission has three Democrats and two Republicans.)
“I want to make sure there are no issues I need to address from the Republican Party standpoint,” Holmes said. “I don’t want Gena Frye on CNN trying to explain what happened to 30,000 votes.”
Holmes complained that none of the election officers who worked early voting in August came to him to say, for example, that they witnessed someone they knew to be a lifelong Democrat asking for a Republican Party primary ballot.
Other Election Commission members pointed out the panel has a long-held practice of placing two election officers — one Democrat and one Republican — at each satellite early voting location and also told Holmes if he was that concerned he should visit the polls himself. Heh.
The person named to the early voting deputy post will be paid $8 per hour, Frye said, with the funds coming out of the Election Commission’s budget for poll workers.
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