By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            The results of the Bronson municipal election became final Friday when the Bronson Canvassing Board met and certified the results. Nothing changed.

            Incumbent Councilman Robert Partin from District 1 and political newcomer Sherrie Schuler from District 3 are the winners. They will take office on Sept. 27.

            The Bronson canvassing board that met on Friday was different than the one that met Tuesday for the official count. County Judge James T. Browning, who was present on Election Night at the Dogan Cobb Municipal Building, didn’t attend the certification vote on Friday.

            The canvassing board on Friday consisted of County Commission Chairman John Meeks, Bronson Town Manager Sue Beaudet, and Deputy Clerk Wendy Maragh. The three canvassing board members hand-counted the District 3 results and found the numbers matched the machine vote.

            There were two races on the ballot on Election Night, District 1 and District 3. Two slips of paper were placed in an empty box Friday morning, one with the number 1 and the other with the number 3. Beaudet reached in without looking and pulled out 3.

            The District 3 race, which Schuler won by 11 votes, was then hand-counted. The results were identical to election night — Schuler got 123 votes, Allen Alexander 112. There were four provisional ballots from voters who didn’t live in the town but thought they could vote in a city election. Their ballots weren’t counted because they didn’t have addresses within the city limits of Bronson.

            On Election Night, Maragh and Beaudet were alone in Town Hall when the polls closed at 7 p.m. They examined the unopened 89 mail-in ballots containing the names of mail-in voters that would help choose their bosses. They determined that all the exterior envelopes containing absentee ballots had valid voter signatures. The public was not invited to observe them working with the absentee ballots.

            After examining the absentee exterior envelopes, they gave the unopened mail-in (absentee) ballots to the full canvassing board at the Dogan Cobb Municipal Building. County Judge James T. Browning, who was present on Election Night in the Dogan Cobb Municipal Building, sliced them open. Maragh and Meeks examined the ballots. Meeks handed the ballots to Supervisor of Elections Tammy Jones and she inserted the ballots into the vote counting-machine.

            Candidates or members of the public that have concerns about the election have 10 days from Friday (Sept. 17) to file a challenge to the election results. Candidates can set up an appointment and go into Town Hall to look at the exterior envelopes of the mail-ballots to determine whether they think any of the signatures on the envelopes don’t match the signature on the voter roll. Beaudet has a document from Jones listing the names of all registered voters in Bronson and their signatures. Those contesting the election must first go to the clerk’s office in the courthouse to fill out a form. They pay $100 to file a challenge.

            Election results are sometimes challenged by candidates or members of the public if they think something went wrong on Election Day or if they think there may have been dishonesty involved.

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt September 17, 2021; Posted September 17, 2021