Ballot counter malfunctions in Bollinger County

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- At press time Tuesday, all the Bollinger County ballots were in, stacked and ready to be counted, but the county clerk's office ran into some difficulties.

County Clerk Diane Holzum said the sensor on the ballot counter wasn't working. She and her staff hand-fed the ballots through the counter to get a count. In addition, the turnout was enough that Marble Hill's second ward precinct ran out of ballots during the day, and election judges had to hand count those. They also had to hand count the city's bond issue ballot, which was printed separately.

The first precinct, in at 7:10 p.m., took 40 minutes to tally, and by 8:30 only two precincts and the absentee ballots had been counted. Bollinger County has 14 precincts.

"It's going to be a long night," Holzum said.

Outside Holzum's office, the hallway was lined with anxious local candidates waiting to learn their fate. After a long and sometimes contentious campaign, they faced a long night of waiting.

Nick Hendricks, candidate for county commissioner in the 2nd District, said he was going to wait for the results, even if it takes all night. He said he wasn't at all frustrated.

"It's exciting," Hendricks said. "I've enjoyed the good conversation of a lot of wonderful people here tonight."

Sheriff Leo McElrath said he was also in it for the duration. He said he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway if he went home, so he was going to stay.

Rita Cato said she might not last the night waiting to see how her husband did as one of McElrath's challengers. Denny Cato sad he was going to stay.

"Because I need to know," he said.

Pertinent address:

Marble Hill, MO