The race for the Greene County coroner’s office is still undecided.

Incumbent Democrat Gregory Rohanna and Republican challenger Gene Rush has been too close to call since the Nov. 7 election. According to Tina Keiger, director of office elections and voter registration, the race did not get complicated until after Election Day.

“On Election Day, it was fairly easy, because that was all out in the polling locations,” Keiger said.

After Nov. 7 voting, Rush led Rohanna by eight votes, 3,248 to 3,240. The absentee ballots were sent in Tuesday night but could not be counted until the next day. The addition of the absentee ballots then gave Rohanna a one-vote lead later in the week.

The absentee and provisional ballots were retallied by the election staffs on Nov. 12, which resulted in Rush having a four-vote lead

over Rohanna.

Rohanna is a lifetime resident of Greene County and has held the position as coroner since 1996. Rush is a retired funeral director from Rogersville.

Going into the election, Keiger said she felt the position was up for grabs.

“They’re both well known, so it was basically up to the voters,” Keiger said. “There was really no guessing to me, anyway. Other people may have, but I wouldn’t have guessed.”

Keiger’s office hasn’t gotten feedback from citizens about the election.

“Just questions on the procedures that will be going, but we’ve had no feedback going on in our office,” she said.

Keiger said this year’s coroner’s race is unlike any other that she has seen in Greene County.

“We’ve never had this,” she said. “It is unusual. We’ve had write-in winners beat other candidates on the ballot before, but we’ve never [had a situation like this].”