TEXARKANA, Texas -- The processing of provisional ballots cast Nov. 2 did not change the outcome in the election for Place 6 on the Pleasant Grove Independent School District's Board of Trustees.
After all ballots were counted, Kathleen Young defeated Amy Lawrence by 13 votes, 888 to 875, according to Bowie County elections officials.
Because the number of provisional ballots cast countywide on Election Day, 23, exceeded the original margin in the race, 15, there was a chance that those ballots could have tipped the race Lawrence's way.
But a closer look at the provisional ballots, first by the county elections office and then by a specialized board, showed that only nine pertained to the PGISD race, not enough to change the result even if they had all been accepted as valid and all were votes for Lawrence.
As it turned out, the committee accepted only two of those nine ballots. Both were votes for Lawrence, narrowing Young's victory margin to 13.
Provisional ballots are cast when problems are detected in the voting process, such as names not matching voter registration records.