By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP - Managing Editor
While Bob Riley and Don Seigelman looked carefully at the vote count in neighboring Baldwin County, Escambia County's returns remained consistent and were certified on Friday.
Election results become official once certified by three county officials. At noon on Friday, Probate Judge Rachel Agerton, Sheriff Tim Hawsey and Circuit Clerk Ken Taylor confirmed that the county's votes were correct.
In previous Tuesday elections, results have been certified as early as Wednesday morning. But, County Administrator Tony Sanks said this year officials decided to wait until the official hour.
Those certified votes had one minor change from the results released Tuesday night after the election. According to Sanks, candidate for lieutenant governor Bill Armistead received two write-in votes despite being named on the ballot. That raised his total to 4,177, still short of Lucy Baxley's 4,470. Giving Armistead the two votes changed the overall number of write-ins for that race from 27 to 25.
The election results for governor remained the same with Escambia choosing Riley over Siegelman, 4,776 to 3,972.
Baldwin County's results were certified on Thursday, showing that Riley won the county by a vote count of 31,052 to 12,736. The earliest results released by that county Tuesday night showed Siegelman had won there. If the vote count does not change, Riley's win in Baldwin is enough to make him the state's new governor.
While there was no problem with Escambia County's numbers, Sanks said everyone involved in the polling process can learn from the situation.