Yes, you can vote in the runoff even if you didn’t vote on Election Day

Yes, you can vote in the runoff even if you didn’t vote on Election Day

West Memphis, Edmondson, Horseshoe Lake voters will return to the polls on Dec. 4

ralphhardin@gmail.com Election season isn’t quite over for some Crittenden County voters.

Yes, three races are yet to be decided for a trio of municipal office races that failed to produce a clear winner last Tuesday night on Election Day.

The race with the widest reaching scope is the race to fill the seat being vacated by West Memphis mayor Bill Johnson. On Election Day, there were a half-dozen hopefuls vying for votes, and that field of six has been pared down to two.

Last Tuesday, West Memphis City Councilman Wayne Croom received the most votes overall, garnering 1,494 — or 27.45 percent of the vote.

Behind Croom, fellow West Memphis City Councilman Marco McClendon netted 1,312 votes — or 24.11 percent. The pair were by far the largest vote-getters of the race, with no other candidate breaking the 800 vote mark.

City Councilwoman Ramona Taylor was third with 793 votes. West Memphis Policeman Eric Johnson was fourth with 788. Quorum Court Justice Lorenzo Parker was fifth with 623 votes, and businessman Fred Leonard rounded out the field taking in 432 votes.

By virtue of their one-two finish, Croom and McClendon will face off in a runoff on Tuesday, Dec. 4. Polls will be open in all West Memphis voting precincts from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the day of the election.

There will also be a week of early and absentee voting beginning the Monday after Thanksgiving, Nov.

26.

West Memphis voters will not be the only ones heading to the polls again. Two other races were left undecided after the mid-terms.

In Edmondson, two candidates for mayor finished in a tie in a four-candidate race. Art Gillard and Ira Ewing both received 31 votes — or 36 percent of the vote. Fellow candidates Hayward Shaw Jr. (13 votes) and Edward Coleman (11 votes) will be culled from the ballot and voters will decide a winner between Gillard and Ewing on Dec. 4.

And in Horseshoe Lake, with no clear winner in the race for the Town Council Seat 2 position, voters will now need to choose a preference between top votegetters Michael Carter, who received 54 votes on Election Day, and Harris Lentz, who received 49 votes.

Third candidate Nora Seaton, who garnered 37 votes, will not be on the ballot next month.

One note that county voters should take… every registered voter who lives in a community where runoffs are being conducted is eligible to vote in the runoff elections — even if he or she did not vote on Election Day. The only qualifications that must be met to vote in the runoff are the same qualifications to vote in any other election: Be registered to vote, live in the city where voting is being held, and have a valid state-issued ID.

By Ralph Hardin