Right after voting this morning, I dropped in on the Hamblen County Election Commission meeting which was just starting.
This was a reorganizational meeting since the composition of the Election Commission has recently changed. There are now three Republicans on the Election Commission (Judy Blackburn, Lyle Doty, and Joe Swann) and two Democrats (Gayle Bruce and Dwaine Evans). [Previously there were three Democrats and two Republicans.]
Joe Swann, a Republican who resigned his county commission seat in order to accept Sen. Steve Southerland's appointment to the local election commission, was elected chairman. Dwaine Evans, a Democrat and former Election Commission chairman, was elected secretary.
The Election Commission discussed how to handle the counting of paper ballots in the current election and indicated that they might count the ballots themselves to save money. Wanda Neal, the current election administrator, added that an Election Commission employee might help also.
Today, Joe Swann's longtime dream of being on the Hamblen County Election Commission came true! According to the Tribune, Swann recently said of his appointment: "This is what I've always wanted." Joe's wish has indeed come true.
[Note: Joe ignored violations of state law (Tennessee Open Meetings Act) when he served on the Hamblen County Commission. Until a lawsuit was filed, he ignored another violation of the Open Meetings Act when he served on the Hamblen County Ethics Committee. I'm sure that as Chairman of the Election Commission, Joe will now be careful and make sure that all meetings of the Election Commission are announced to the public and that all deliberations concerning public business are held in public.]
[Another Note: Joe's brother is Bill Swann. Bill is the former head of BASF (Enka) and also former manager of the Morristown Utility System. Bill Swann is currently a candidate for an at-large seat on the Morristown City Council.]
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