By Michael V. Hannigan/HCN
When all the results were tallied Tuesday night, just 55 votes separated Botie Hillhouse and Billy Jack Valentine in the Henderson County Sheriff’s race, with Hillhouse taking a 6,817 to 6,762 win in the Republican primary election.
But the narrow margin will lead to the inevitable recount.
“We’re just 55 votes down, so we’re nowhere near out of it yet,” said Valentine in pointing out that provisional votes still needed to be counted. He also verified that he will be asking for a recount, focusing on absentee ballots. “I think we’re still going to win this race.”
Hillhouse was not surprised that Valentine would call for a recount considering the tightness of the race, but believes he will still be the winner when all is said and done.
“It was a stressful rollercoaster that came all the way down to the end,” Hillhouse said. “I felt good coming in and I feel good about it now.”
However things turn out, either Hillhouse or Valentine will be the next Sheriff of Henderson County, replacing the retiring Ray Nutt, because no Democrat filed to run for the office in November.