STURGIS -- Changes could be made to how Sturgis handles its elections in the future, following Tuesday's annexation vote.

In all, 1,738 ballots in the Feb. 2 election were counted by hand. Six women in teams of three did all of the counting. Seven provisional ballots remained to be counted Wednesday.

The ballot counting started after the final vote was cast at 7:45 p.m. Results pending, the provisional ballots were released at about 11:45 p.m.

Changing the system, however, will not happen overnight.

"It costs money to do electronic voting," Ward 3 councilman Jamie McVay said. "Being a council member is all about saving money, or at least spending money wisely."

City Manager David Boone said the city will review making elections more efficient.

"We will also revisit our voting process and procedures to assess what can be improved," Boone said in an email from Pierre. "Staff simply did not anticipate an unusually high turnout for a special single-issue election."