MASON COUNTY — According to the Mason County Clerk’s Office, there were 85 provisional ballots cast in Tuesday’s general election - ballots which will be reviewed and if verified, counted in the upcoming election canvasing at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 13.

A provisional ballot is basically used to record a vote when there is some question in regards to a given voter’s eligibility. This eligibility is then verified or denied by the clerk’s office.

However, even if all the provisionals were verified and counted it appears there aren’t enough of them, regardless of how the voter voted, to affect the outcome of races in Mason County.

The closest race in Mason County was between Democrat Greg Powers and Republican Gordon Clark for county sheriff. Powers had 4,906 votes while Clark had 4,738 votes - a difference of only 168 votes. Powers got 50.82 percent of the vote with Clark getting 49.08 percent.

Out of nearly 19,000 registered voters, 10,007 ballots were cast in the general election in Mason County. A record 2,958 voters voted early - this was nearly double the early votes cast in the May primary, according to Clerk Diana Cromley. There were 7,049 voters who cast their ballots on election day.

In terms of straight tickets, there were 954 GOP straight tickets cast, 1,026 Democratic straight tickets cast, 16 Mountain and 29 Libertarian straight tickets cast.