GADSDEN – Court officials, attorneys for the plaintiffs and defendants, and a smattering of spectators watched Tuesday afternoon as Etowah County Circuit Judge William H. Rhea, III opened a sealed cardboard box containing 499 ballots cast in the Cedar Bluff municipal election on Aug. 28. 

At dispute in the case, filed by three candidates within days of the contest, is whether around three dozen absentee ballots were cast illegally and altered the outcome of the election. 

At one point, Cedar Bluff Town Clerk DeLana Martin and election officials Billie Sue Neyman and Linda Pickelsimer were called forward by Judge Rhea to assist in interpreting the paperwork that accompanied the ballots. 

Judge Rhea and several attorneys then spent several minutes separating the ballots into three piles: ballots cast on election day, so-called “spoiled” ballots, which were not counted for various reasons; and the absentee ballots. Multiple copies of the four spoiled and 31 absentee ballots were then made and distributed to each lawyer in the courtroom.  

Judge Rhea then directed his court reporter to dictate an explanation, voiced by attorney Bill Hawkins -- who represents the town -- of what had transpired, for the record. 

The entire proceeding took around 40 minutes. Rhea then scheduled a status conference, to be conducted via telephone, for Oct. 15 at 9 a.m.

"If something comes up and someone needs more time than that, just let me know," Rhea said. "Otherwise I will be sitting by the phone next Wednesday waiting a phone call."

Rhea was selected to preside over the case by the Alabama Supreme Court after all three circuit judges in Cherokee County recused themselves from the matter.

Mayoral candidate Jimmy Wallace, along with town council candidates Billie Burkhalter and Lenora McWhorter, filed suit against the town of Cedar Bluff and their opponents within days of the town’s Aug. 28 municipal election. 

The plaintiffs contend that if the votes they consider illegal are thrown out,  Burkhalter would win her District 1 race. As the vote count stands now, she will face Evan Smith in a runoff. Smith received all eight of the absentee votes cast in District 1.

In District 2, McWhorter and Donald Sanders are scheduled to face off. The 15 absentee votes Sanders received gave him a nine-vote edge over McWhorter (43-34), who only received three absentee votes. If the challenged ballots are disallowed, McWhorter would win the council seat by three votes (31-28).

In the race for mayor, Steve Lay and Ethel Sprouse were set to face each other in the runoff. With the absentee votes removed, however, Wallace would move into second place by three votes. Lay passed away over the weekend following complications from open-heart surgery.

Judge Rhea listened to Al Shumaker, attorney for Sprouse, argue that his client should be declared the outright winner in the mayor’s race because of Lay’s death.

Rhea declined to rule on the motion, saying he would take it under advisement.