Scott Allen admitted that, when 25 inmates escorted by law officials entered the election office Thursday morning, work became “a little scary.”
“Just seeing all the officers with rifles and shotguns in hand and inmates coming in with hands and feet shackled – it was a little intimidating,” he said.
As the assistant administrator of elections for Hamilton County, Allen was at the election office on Amnicola Highway when the inmates were taken from the Hamilton County Jail to vote.
Inmates typically vote at the jail – ballots are brought there by election officials – but a timing mistake forced officials to bring them to the election office.
State law requires that prisoner ballots be cast from the jail seven days before an election, but Election Day is Tuesday.
“We didn’t make it in time,” said Charlotte Mullis-Morgan, administrator of elections. “We messed up, but we got them voted.”
The inmates voted in a room separate from the general public, she said.
Earlier in the week, ballots were delivered to inmates at Silverdale Detention Center to meet timing requirements, Mullis-Morgan said.
For a prisoner to vote, he or she must be a registered voter and not be a convicted felon, according to election officials.
Sheriff Jim Hammond said the prisoners arrived in vans when polls opened at 8 a.m., and about 10 officers, including some from East Ridge and Soddy-Daisy, helped with transportation. This was the first time inmates have left jail to vote, he said, and “it went without a hitch.”
“We thought this was the best way to handle it,” Hammond said. “And since the number [of inmates] was a workable number, I decided to go ahead and do it rather than risk somebody not having the opportunity to vote who’s legally entitled to vote.”
Allen said he and his co-workers are going to mark their calendars for the next election so the situation won’t happen again.
“[We’re] going to make sure it gets done the other way for 2012,” he said.