After a fifth vote count — a recount ordered by the Tennessee State Democratic Party — state Sen. Douglas Henry has emerged victorious in the District 21 state Senate Democratic primary by 17 votes.
According to Davidson County Elections Administrator Ray Barrett, a recount of votes from both voting machines and paper absentee ballots conducted Tuesday afternoon by the Davidson County Election Commission gave Henry 5,734 votes compared to 5,717 votes for Yarbro.
Previously, results tabulated by the election commission gave Henry an 11-vote advantage. Barrett said Henry picked up three votes and Yarbro lost three votes when recounting absentee ballots.
The Tennessee State Democratic Party Executive Committee, which serves as the party’s state primary board, had ordered the recount Monday night.
The election commission is scheduled to certify the final results Wednesday morning.
Following the release of the new figures, Yarbro said he called Henry to congratulate him on his victory and offered his support during the general election in November.
“This is obviously an election that was decided by a very small margin,” Yarbro said when asked for his reaction to yet another vote tally. “I think that the process that happened on election night was one that had to be thrown together pretty quickly, but it looks like they did as good of a job as they could under the circumstances.
“I’m pleased that we have a final number that we can have some confidence in going forward,” he said.
Bob Thomas, who serves as finance chairman for Henry, said the senator looks forward to working with Yarbro during the general election, adding that he was pleased with the way both sides handled the razor-thin election.
“Both sides worked very cooperatively to get a fair result,” Thomas said. “Mr. Yarbro and his team have been most magnanimous in this whole process.”