Board of Elections counts provisional ballots ahead of county canvass
Following the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the Surry County Board of Elections met Tuesday afternoon to review and vote on provisional ballots, giving partial or full approval to 148 of 244 of the ballots. As with many meetings held to verify results following the election, several attendees were present to oversee the three-and-a-half-hour process. During the public forum, some attendees voiced their gratitude to the board and thanked them for running a smooth election. “We’re family right here. We got a good board,” Surry County Board of Elections Chair Chris White said following the public forum portion of the meeting. “I’m very appreciative of my board.” Elections Director Sydney Bedsaul Romine organized the review of provisional ballots into nine categories. Each ballot, which has been researched and reviewed by two election staff members, was reviewed once again in the meeting, this time by the board, where they were either approved or not approved based on state recommendations and guidelines. Some votes were partially approved based on conditions the ballot met or did not meet, which required the board to manually remark partially approved ballots on the correct ballot style. In all, 148 provisional ballots were approved by the board —
