Few races lead to light turn out
CHARLESTON - With several unopposed races and one school district not casting ballots, voter turnout was decidedly light in Mississippi County no matter how you look at it.
The total number of registered voters participating in Tuesday's election was skewed due to East Prairie Schools not holding an election, having had only two candidates running for the two openings, according to County Clerk Junior DeLay.
DeLay figured about 10 percent of the total registered voters cast ballots, but taking East Prairie voters out of the equation would put the figure more at about 20 percent - which DeLay said is still a light turnout.
Jackie Whiteside, with 336 votes, and David Manker, with 262, will serve three-year terms on the Charleston City Council. Close on Manker's heels was Sandy Harvey who pulled in 260 votes.
In the three unopposed East Prairie Board of Aldermen races: Billy Hatton got 22 votes in Ward 1; Harold Lemons received 21 in Ward 2; and Karen Coffer picked up all 31 of the votes of Ward 3.
One of the evening's surprises was in Wyatt's Ward 1: Sam Bowles was the sole candidate appearing on the ballot, but ended up with a close race with declared write-in candidate Riley Fitzgerald Jr., ending up with a tie at the precinct with 21 votes each. With the addition of four absentee ballots, Bowles was declared the winner, however, with a total of 25 votes.
Donald Williams will serve two years as Wyatt's mayor, having received 53 votes to win over Lester W. Grisso Jr., who got 22 votes, and Joey Cross, who received 15. Robert J. Dugan Sr., the only candidate in Wyatt's Ward 2, received 36 votes. In Bertrand, both wards had unopposed candidates. Willard Lee "Doc" Baker received all 25 votes in Ward 1 and Stephen R. McConkey got all 42 votes cast in Ward 2.
Vickey Graham edged out Nichole Gant for the two-year Wilson City Board of Trustees term 16-13, and Eddie Mae Washington received 14 votes in his unopposed bid to serve the last year of an unexpired term on the Board of Trustees.
There were no listed candidates and no write-in votes in Anniston's Ward 1. Ladonna Reno was the winner in Anniston's Ward 2, beating out Robert Jones 15 votes to 10.
Debra Tarver was the winner in the three-way race for a two-year term on Pinhook's Board of Trustees with four votes. Two votes were cast for Mary L. Williams, and Sedrick Johnson had one vote.
Voters in School District No. 1 (Charleston) selected Carol Jane Burke (698 votes) and Larry R. Smith (311 votes) for the two open Board of Education director seats. John R. Bledsoe was close behind with 304 votes, and 202 voters cast ballots for Mike Ellis.
The few Mississippi County voters registered in the R-4 Kelly School District let Scott County voters decide the race between Tony Powell, Wayne Rockett, Lisa Howell and Janet Lee Kline, casting no votes.
In the race for the District 6 director seat on the county ambulance district's board, John Joe Bryant was victorious over Randy Johnson, 49-39.