By JOEL PHELPS | The Arkadelphian

Although unofficial results from Tuesday’s election show Zach Bledsoe won the race for Clark County’s District 1 Justice of the Peace by four votes, there were some provisional ballots that may not count in the election, or they may count in his opponent’s favor.

Unofficial results indicate that Bledsoe won by four votes — he had 103 votes to Matthew Taylor’s 99. But with seven provisional ballots still on the line, the race will not be decided until Nov. 18, when the election commission will meet to determine whether or not those votes will count, according to Clark County Clerk Mona Vance. 

Those seven voters, Vance said, could have been registered in another county yet voted in Clark County, or they were Clark County residents still registered in another county. The deadline to transfer voter registration was Friday.

“They technically voted in the right area but the vote [may not] count because they weren’t one of our registered voters,” Vance said. “This was the only race we had that was really close.”

Bledsoe, who chairs the Clark County Democratic Party, spent several minutes at a downtown watch party certain he had won the race until he received a call from an election commissioner telling him it wasn’t yet over. Bledsoe took to social media afterward, thanking his supporters for their congratulations. “Please at this time give me some time to digest this news and give me some space as this next week will be long and frustrating to wait until I hear something,” he posted to Facebook. “No matter what happens I am proud of the work we did in this campaign!”