Attorney Charles Carpenter's campaign has issued a lawyerly sounding press release calling for the Shelby County Election Commission not to count or release early voting ballots before 7 p.m. on Election Day.
The issue, Carpenter said, arose from a commission-issued letter indicating ballots would be counted at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Carpenter contends that because there is no paper trail in the electronic voting system, "having votes calculated before the polls close will allow the opportunity for voting results to be manipulated, thereby tainting the tabulation process for the Mayoral Special Election."
Carpenter said he's asking Richard Holden, the administrator of elections, to discuss this "urgent matter."
A call to Holden was not immediately returned.
Beyond a meeting, Carpenter hasn't asked for any drastic action. But his fear of vote tampering harkens back to Willie Herenton's 2007 mayoral campaign -- which Carpenter managed -- when the five-time mayor called the voting machines "faulty" and asked the Election Commission to actually halt early voting. His plea went largely ignored; Herenton wound up winning the election anyway.
UPDATE: Election Commission Chairman Bill Giannini said by state law, the election commission is not allowed to tabulate any votes until after polls close at 7 p.m. He said the commission has numerous public meetings discussing this timeline for tabulation.
"He obviously doesn't understand the process," Giannini said. "It seems like this is an attempt to get some free press coverage. He needs anything he can get right now."
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