In the most anticipated race of the election for U.S. Senate, Marion County mirrored the rest of Mississippi with R- Cindy Hyde-Smith and D- Mike Espy leading substantially over R-Chris McDaniel, and setting the stage for a runoff Nov. 27
A local judge’s election will also likely be on the runoff ballot as no one in the 10th Chancery District’s race for Place 4 finished with more than 50 percent of the vote. Vanessa Jones finished with 31 percent of the vote in the six-candidate field. The 10th Chancery District includes Marion, Forrest, Lamar, Pearl River and Perry counties. Stacy Sims Barber and Chad Smith each finished with 19 percent. Affidavit votes in the five counties could determine the outcome as they are verified. Local candidate Joseph Turney finished with 12 percent of the vote despite winning 36.78 percent of the vote with 3,075 votes in Marion County. Jones finished second in Marion County with 26.19 percent of the vote, or 2,190 votes.
“As soon as the results are certified, we can begin absentee voting,” Marion County Circuit Clerk Janette Nolan said. “If you are someone who will be leaving and won’t be here, like you’re going to work offshore, contact our office before you leave.”
Nolan said the election ran smoothly as nearly 55 percent of Marion County’s registered voters turned out at the polls Tuesday.
“We didn’t have any major issues,” Nolan said. “We were very busy, but a lot of that was people calling to make sure where they were to vote. We’ve also had a lot of questions from people who have moved. If you move, even just down the street, you need to update your information. It’s not something that happens automatically. People can go to the state website, yallvote.com, or come into our office to change addresses.”
In Marion County, the results for the Senate race, which included all 22 precincts plus absentee ballots but not 212 provisional ballots, were:
• Cindy Hyde-Smith, 4,148 votes, 47 percent
• Mike Espy, 2,740 votes, 31 percent
• Chris McDaniel, 1,785 votes, 20 percent
• Tobee Bartee, 133 votes, 2 percent
Turnout in Marion County increased about 42 percent in Tuesday’s general election versus the previous mid-term elections in 2014.
In the special election for U.S. Senate, 8,806 ballots were cast this year, which includes machine and absentee votes. That compares to just 6,195 votes in the U.S. Senate election 2014. That’s a 42.1 percent increase.
Other totals in Marion County included:
Senate
• Roger F. Wicker, 5,797 votes, 66.79 percent
• David Baria, 2,682 votes, 30.90 percent
• Danny Bedwell, 130 votes, 1.5 percent
• Shawn O’Hara, 67 votes, 0.77 percent
4th Congressional District
• Steven Palazzo, 6,039, 68.24 percent
• Jeramey Anderson 2,756, 31.10 percent
• Lajena Sheets, 51, 0.58 percent.
Supreme Court Position 1
• David M. Ishee, 7,203, 99.60 percent
District 4, Position 2
• David McCarty, 4,279, 55.28 percent
• Jeff Weill Sr. 1,789, 23.11 percent
• Byron Carter, 1,653, 21.36 percent
Chancery Court, District 10, Place 1
• Deborah J. Gambrell, 7,375, 99.37 percent
Chancery Court, District 10, Place 2
• Rhea Hudson Sheldon, 7,260, 99.70 percent
Chancery Court District 10, Place 3
• S. Havard Smallwood, 3,921, 50.43 percent.
• Bob Marshall 3,843, 49.43 percent
Circuit Court, District 15, Place 1
• Anthony A. “Tony” Mozingo, 7,719, 99.72 percent
Circuit Court, District 15, Place 2
• Prentiss G. Harrell, 7,733, 99.63 percent
Circuit Court, District 15 Place 3
• C. “Buddy” McDonald, 7,573, 99.76 percent.
County Attorney
• Lawrence E. Hahn, 7,754, 99.76 percent
Pictured Above: Marion County Election Commissioners Smitty Bracey and Mike Bennett look over a ballot box as it arrived. | Photo by Mark Rogers
