Watauga Provisional Ballots Confirm a Democratic Sweep

The Watauga County Board of Elections left no stump ungrubbed today. Two hundred sixty-some provisional ballots were examined; 92 were disallowed because (a) the voter had moved residence out of the county or (b) the voter had no known place of residence or (c) the voter put down his/her parents' address (some other county) or (e) the voter was a felon (sizable number of those), etc.; 170 ballots were ruled eligible.

The votes from those 170 ballots in the close races:

Goss 107
Blust 58

Hagaman 95
Shook 72

Total county vote, adjusted to the provisionals:

Goss 8,537
Blust 6,711

Hagaman 7,845
Shook 7,724

A total of 15,745 ballots ended up being cast & counted. Straight-party voting occurred on 6,251 of those ballots. The lop-sided break-down by party is unprecedented in recent memory:

3,689 straight Democrat
2,562 straight Republican