A Pottsville City Council race appears headed for a December runoff, Jimmy Witt won another term as Dardanelle mayor, and Pamela DuVall Scarber came out on top in Pottsville’s mayoral contest as River Valley voters settled several local races Tuesday night.
In Russellville, Allan George defeated Emily Young for a City Council seat, while Republicans won three contested Pope County Quorum Court races. Yell County voters also selected a Dardanelle School Board member and decided contested council races in Danville and Havana.
Local results from Tuesday’s general election are unofficial until certified, with a few overseas and military ballots still outstanding in Pope County.
Voters in Pottsville will likely have one more trip to the polls this year after no candidate received a majority in the three-way race for City Council Ward 2, Position 1.
Larry Shingleur Sr. finished first with 364 votes, followed by Dr. Sheila Hunt with 300 and Daniel Reddell with 152.
Shingleur led Hunt by 64 votes, but neither reached the majority required to avoid a runoff under Arkansas law. The two are expected to face each other Dec. 1, pending certification of the results.
In the mayor’s race, Pamela DuVall Scarber defeated Robert Alexander Jr., 562 to 266.
Holly Morton Fowler won the city clerk/treasurer race with 484 votes to Mariah Jeffcoat’s 341.
John Chenowith also won the Ward 3, Position 1 City Council race, defeating Steve Williamson, 469 to 358.
In Russellville’s contested City Council race, Allan R. George defeated Emily Young for Ward 2, Position 1.
George received 1,161 votes to Young’s 936, a margin of 225 votes.
Dardanelle voters gave Mayor Jimmy Witt another term Tuesday, choosing him over challenger and City Council member Kurt Spears.
Witt received 492 votes to Spears’ 225, according to unofficial results reported through the Arkansas Secretary of State.
Two other contested City Council races in Yell County were also decided Tuesday.
In Danville, Alison Isely Wilson defeated James Loyd for City Council Ward 2, Position 2, receiving 158 votes to Loyd’s 72.
In Havana, Lisa Dawson defeated Christy Gorman-Over for City Council Ward 1, Position 2, receiving 43 votes to Gorman-Over’s 10.
Dr. Dana Tribble defeated Mark Byrd in the Dardanelle School Board Zone 1 runoff.
Tribble received 1,091 votes in Yell County to Byrd’s 906. Including votes reported from Conway County, the district-wide tally was 1,108 for Tribble and 918 for Byrd.
Tribble had been appointed to fill the vacant board seat in May and was serving until the November election.
Republicans won all three contested Justice of the Peace races in Pope County.
District 5: Jackie Heflin defeated Democrat Lesly Dunn, 1,188 to 332.
District 6: Suzanne McCall defeated Democrat Daniel Cox, 1,197 to 370.
District 10: Jamie Jackson defeated Democrat Jordyn Barnett-Pace, 955 to 648.
Republican Greg Nelson also defeated independent James T. Stroud in the Constable District 3 race, 1,011 to 321.
Republicans led in all three contested state House districts covering parts of Pope and Yell counties, according to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s election-night results.
In House District 53, Republican Matt Duffield defeated Democrat Jennifer Lewter, 4,012 to 2,566. The district lies entirely within Pope County, so those figures represent the complete district rather than just a county portion.
In House District 45, which includes portions of Pope and Johnson counties, Republican Aaron Pilkington led independent Debra Hobbs by a district-wide total of 5,254 to 2,980.
Pilkington received 1,343 votes in Pope County and 3,911 in Johnson County, while Hobbs received 501 in Pope County and 2,479 in Johnson County.
In House District 54, Republican Mary Bentley led Democrat Doug Corbitt 4,136 to 2,719 in district-wide returns from Faulkner, Perry, Pope, Saline and Yell counties. Some precinct reporting remained incomplete in the statewide export.
Bentley carried the Yell County portion of the district with 620 votes to Corbitt’s 182.
In the 4th Congressional District, Republican Bruce Westerman led Democrat James “Rus” Russell III, 104,882 to 55,229, according to the statewide election-night export. Those district-wide returns were also still unofficial.
Voters in Pope and Yell counties supported Issues 1, 2 and 4 while rejecting Issue 3, a pattern also reflected in the statewide election-night returns.
According to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s statewide results export, the following totals had been reported:
Those statewide totals are still incomplete and may change as additional ballots are reported.
Locally, Issue 4 was the closest contest in both counties.
In Pope County, voters favored Issue 4 by 8,564 to 7,579, a margin of 985 votes.
The margin was even smaller in Yell County, where Issue 4 received 2,313 votes in favor and 2,106 against — a difference of just 207 votes.
Issue 3, which would authorize the legislature to establish economic development programs and districts, was rejected by Pope County voters, 8,993 to 7,241, and by Yell County voters, 2,435 to 1,995.
Issues 1 and 2 drew more comfortable margins of support in both counties.
Pope County recorded 16,729 ballots cast in Tuesday’s election, representing 47.25% of its 35,405 registered voters.
Early voting accounted for 12,107 ballots, while 4,439 were cast on Election Day and 183 were absentee ballots.
The county’s final unofficial report was released at 8:29 p.m. Tuesday.
In Yell County, all 28 precincts were listed as reporting in the county’s general election results.
Election Day voting there continued at eight vote centers after the Rover polling site closed Tuesday morning following a poll worker’s medical emergency. Because Yell County uses a vote center system, affected voters could cast ballots at any of the remaining locations.
Results remain unofficial until certified. The statewide totals represent the ballots reported at the time of the Secretary of State’s election-night export.
Complete election results are available through the Arkansas Secretary of State’s election results website.
