KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Two races in Knox County remain "too close to call" after Super Tuesday.
The Republican Primary for County Commission in District 1, which includes parts of downtown Knoxville and East Knoxville, has five votes separating the two candidates. Charles Frazier leads Justin Hirst 464 to 459.
Republican Candidate for Property Assessor Phil Ballard leads Jackie Raley in the primary by 12 votes — 21,285 votes to 21,273 votes.
Knox County Election Administrator Chris Davis said election workers will consider 71 provisional ballots across all races in Knox County. Those are Election Day ballots that haven't been counted yet.
"Maybe they're registered, but we don't show it. Maybe they thought they registered in time, but they didn't. Maybe we mailed them an absentee ballot but they weren't able to mail it back to the polls in time, so they come to the polls to cast their ballot to make sure something counts," Davis said. "It's a ballot that may count. It may not count."
Davis said five of those provisional ballots are in District 1, the district with the Republican candidates for County Commission separated by five votes. He said election workers won't know if those five provisional ballots are for the Republican primary until workers open them.
Usually, about half of the provisional ballots end up counting, Davis said.
Turnout for the Super Tuesday primary elections was lower than expected, the Election Administrator said. About one out of every five eligible voters in Knox County cast a ballot.
"Given the good weather we had both during early voting and Election Day and a pretty crowded ballot," Davis said. "I'm disappointed in the turnout, overall."
Davis said he's already encouraging voters to prepare for the August general election for county races and the primary for state offices.