DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — After several days of counting ballots by hand, the DeKalb County Voter Registration and Elections (VRE) has the preliminary and unofficial votes cast for the Commission District 2 Democratic primary race.
The unofficial preliminary results show that Lauren Alexander received 4,737 votes, Marshall Orson received 3,928 votes, and Michelle Long Spears received 6,651 votes. Donald Broussard, who officially withdrew from the contest, received 133 votes, according to a release from the DeKalb VRE.
Technical issues prompted the DeKalb VRE and the Georgia Secretary of State to take action to identify accurate results of the race.
The contest for the Democratic primary in the District 2 County Commission bid originally had four candidates on the ballot. The area covers Decatur, Chamblee, Brookhaven, Tucker and parts of Atlanta. One of the candidates, Don Broussard, dropped out. That left Marshall Orson, Lauren Alexander and Michelle Long Spears battling for the seat.
When Broussard dropped out, DeKalb County election officials had the choice to either not count the ballots for Broussard or drop his name off the ballot altogether. The county chose the second option and had to reprogram hundreds of voting machines. However, on Election Day, DeKalb election workers discovered several machines still had Broussard on the ballot, which lead to incorrect vote totals.
On Wednesday, officials released their preliminary numbers. Final results are currently being tabulated and reconciled. The DeKalb VRE said it will announce the final results once the process is complete.
"These unofficial and incomplete results were announced on June 1, 2022, following hand-counting efforts. All District 2 candidates were emailed preliminary tabulations from the hand count and unofficial and preliminary precinct-specific data will be uploaded to the State’s election system promptly," DeKalb County said in a release.
The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Election (BRE) called a meeting on May 31, where members voted to postpone certifying the complete election results. The DeKalb BRE set a meeting for Friday, June 3, at 5 p.m. to consider certifying the May 24 election results.
While counting the ballots by hand, three-person teams had to visually and verbally confirm the candidate's selection on the ballots cast in the race.
“The goal of the hand count was to obtain accurate results of the County Commission District 2 race and I am confident we have achieved that objective thanks in part to the diligence of our staff who worked extended hours across the holiday weekend,” DeKalb VRE Executive Director Keisha Smith said. “We are committed to getting these tabulations right, but wanted to ensure that preliminary and unofficial results were posted as soon as practicable.”
Below is a full breakdown of the preliminary and unofficial votes cast:
Lauren Alexander:
Election Day: 3008
Advance Voting: 1457
Absentee by Mail: 265
Provisional: 7
Total: 4737
Marshall Orson
Election Day: 2069
Advance Voting: 1492
Absentee by Mail: 362
Provisional: 5
Total: 3928
Michelle Long Spears
Election Day: 4080
Advance Voting: 2152
Absentee by Mail: 415
Provisional: 4
Total: 6651
Donald Broussard
Election Day: 53
Advance Voting: 41
Absentee by Mail: 39
Provisional: 0
Total:133
Total Votes
Election Day: 9210
Advance Voting: 5142
Absentee by Mail: 1081
Provisional: 16
Total:15449