Davidson County Election Administrator Says He’s Looking Into Primary Day Discrepancies

A Davidson County Election Commissioner is asking for a full investigation after six voters allegedly cast ballots twice. (Photo: Blake Farmer/WPLN)

Davidson County Election Administrator Kent Wall says he’s looking into how six people voted twice in last week’s primary, following a call for a full-fledged investigation from an election commissioner.

Election officials say around 10,000 people who voted early could have voted a second time, due to a combination of a computer software glitch and a human error. One full-time employee has been fired, though officials won’t elaborate on what the employee did wrong.

As far as they know, only six voters intentionally cast ballots twice – five of them voted early in the same precinct, Wall said. He wouldn’t pinpoint the exact precinct, but says “we know who they are. We know how they voted.”

Mark Goins, the state’s election administrator, told The Tennessean he’s recommended the six voters be turned over to the District Attorney’s office for possible prosecution.

Election Commissioner Tricia Herzfeld says though it’s just six votes, it’s enough to start asking more questions.

She has called for an emergency meeting to address some of her concerns, but her request was turned down. Herzfeld, a civil rights attorney, says in addition to the six who supposedly voted twice, there have been other reports that some voters who didn’t cast ballots during early voting were turned away at the polls due to computer mix-ups.

“There needs to be a top-to-bottom review of exactly what happened on election day to get to the bottom of what all the problems are and to ensure that these six voters were the only problems we did have.”

The Election Commission meets on Monday to certify the primary. The votes need a majority of the five-member commission to be certified. So if Herzfeld is the only one to vote no, the election could still become official.

Election Administrator Kent Wall says Herzfeld is “looking for some very specific things, and we’re endeavoring to meet those demands.” Among Herzfeld’s requests: that poll workers be interviewed and that election officials offer a full explanation of how the primary day discrepancies occurred.