Ballots
cused on absentee and provisional ballots and alleged the election commission did not properly tally and report them. He challenged Palazzolo for his mayoral seat in the November election and lost by 120 votes. He filed a legal complaint against the election commission and commission administrator Linda Phillips on Nov. 30.
That original complaint pointed out that certified election results showed 543 absentee ballots were received and 476 were tallied, and 40 provisional ballots were received and 37 were counted.
Early voting results, election day results and provisional ballots showed the former alderman with a seven-vote lead, according to the certified results. However, Palazzolo received 301 votes from absentee ballots while Barzizza received 174.
Motions to dismiss filed by the attorney for Phillips and the election commission have roundly dismissed Barzizza’s arguments and pointed out that even if his claims about inaccurate vote tallying were true, he still would not have won the election.
An attorney representing the election commission also filed a new motion to dismiss the lawsuit Jan. 25 but said it was unrelated to Barzizza’s motion to view provisional ballots.
Corinne Kennedy is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at Corinne.kennedy@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Corinneskennedy.