The August county general election ballot for Shelby County isn’t quite complete as the Shelby County Election Commission prepares to start mailing out absentee and military ballots.

The Tennessee Democratic Party’s primary board voted Saturday, June 11, to have the Shelby County Election Commission recount the results in the two closest primary races by the certified results — the Democratic primaries for County Commission Districts 7 and 11.

But the state primary board, in an online meeting, rejected a move to disqualify former County Commissioner Henri Brooks as the winner in the District 7 primary after second-place contender and Memphis-Shelby County School Board member Althea Greene claimed Brooks didn’t live in District 7.

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Brooks beat Greene by 76 votes in the five-candidate race by the certified results approved by the Election Commission last month.

Miska Clay-Bibbs, also an MSCS board member, beat Rev. Eric Winston by 18 votes in the three-candidate race for District 11, according to the certified results.

Clay-Bibbs has no Republican or independent opposition on the August county general election ballot. Brooks faces independent contender Shirelle Dakota-Brown.

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Greene gave the state Democratic party a check for $4,310 to cover the cost of the District 7 recount and Winston turned in a check to the party for $835 for the recount in District 11.

The dollar figures came from a list of costs for several types of recounts submitted by Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips.

State law for challenging general election results requires the losing candidate challenging the results to file a lawsuit in Chancery Court and to prove specific voting irregularities that would be enough to change the outcome of the election.

Because primary elections are controlled by the state Democratic and Republican parties, the primary boards of each party hear such challenges and ultimately control who is allowed on the primary ballot and who is the party’s nominee.

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Greene sought to have Brooks removed as the Democratic party’s nominee in District 11 as the second part of a two-part challenge that included the recount.

Greene claims Brooks changed the address of her voter registration three times in a year before settling on the apartment in the district.

She and former Shelby County Commissioner Deidre Malone told the primary board they believe Brooks lives in Cordova, outside District 7, and they had hired a private investigator to watch the address in Cordova.

“I find it more difficult for a child to enroll in school,” Greene said of the requirements to live in the district to which a candidate is elected.

“Neighbors know who lives next door to them. They have not seen her in the last five years,” she said. “This is something that happened in the past. … I’m visible in this community. There is no question about where I live.”

The county attorney’s office investigated Brooks toward the end of her tenure on the commission in 2014 in another residency challenge that concluded she did not live in her district.

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The commission’s move toward an ouster vote was put off when a special prosecutor began investigating whether Brooks broke a law by putting a false address on her qualifying petition to run for another office.

Brooks also contested the challenge by the county attorney’s office to her residency.

Brooks served out her term on the commission, but six months after leaving office, entered an Alford plea to a felony charge of falsifying an election record — acknowledging that the evidence likely would have led to her conviction but not admitting guilt.

Brooks was later sentenced to two years probation, mental health counseling and 80 hours of community service.

County Commission Van Turner, representing Brooks, argued Saturday that all Greene and Malone had was “hearsay” from neighbors at the address in District 7 and no affidavits or sworn statements or other proof that Brooks lived somewhere else outside the district.

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The residency investigation and conclusion eight years ago would likely not be allowed as proof in a court of law, Turner added.

Two of the addresses listed were in the same apartment complex, indicating Brooks moved from one apartment to another.

Turner said Brooks produced a lease with the address, a checkbook with the address and bills to the address.

“To deprive one of an election because of a hearsay statement or concern without any further evidence would be a bold and strong step and would set a precedent,” he said. “They could really undo the vote of the people.”

The primary board agreed, with only one vote in favor of removing Brooks as the party’s nominee and 34 votes against, with three more primary board members abstaining.

The state party earlier this month ruled that a challenge of Janeen Gordon as winner in the Democratic primary for Shelby County Juvenile Court Clerk wasn’t submitted in a timely manner to be considered.

Stephanie Gatewood, who finished third in the May primary, argued that Gordon should be disqualified because her name appeared on the ballot as Janeen Fullilove Gordon — using the last name of her mother, outgoing Juvenile Court Clerk Janis Fullilove.

Gordon faces Republican nominee Rob White on the August general election ballot.

Republicans have also weathered several challenges ultimately decided by Chancery Court rulings after the Shelby County Election Commission sought the court rulings.

The two separate cases involved Lee and Amber Mills.

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Lee Mills, the former Shelby County Republican Party chairman, is again challenging State House District 99 incumbent Tom Leatherwood in the August primaries for the Tennessee General Assembly.

The state House attorney argued the U.S. Census tract boundary for the district showed Mills and his wife, who is a county commissioner, lived in Fayette County — not Shelby County and not District 99 — along with about 200 other homeowners in Arlington who vote in Shelby County elections and pay Shelby County taxes.

The court ruled Mills did live in District 99 and remains in the primary race.

Amber Mills cleared by Chancery Court for reelection run

The dispute called into question whether Amber Mills could seek re-election in the August county general election after running unopposed in the May Republican primary for County Commission District 1.

A separate Chancery Court ruling on that matter held that she lives in the County Commission district and will remain on the August county general election ballot.

Mills faces Democratic challenger Donna McDonald-Martin in the August District 1 contest.