SALYERSVILLE – Over half of all Magoffin County’s registered voters submitted their ballots, either via paper absentee, early voting absentee, excused absentee or at the polls on Tuesday, with 53% of registered voters participating in the General Election.
The Numbers
A total of 5,202 ballots were cast in the Magoffin County General Election, with 428 voting no-excuse early voting absentee, 215 excused in-person absentee, 706 paper ballots and the remaining 3,853 cast at the polls on November 8. In total, 53% of Magoffin’s 9,815 registered voters cast their ballots in the General Election.
To crunch the numbers further, that means 13.5% of all ballots cast in the Magoffin County General Election were voted via paper absentee, and 26% were cast as absentee ballots (either by paper or at the machine for early voting absentee or excused absentee). This year voters were given the opportunity to vote early absentee at the clerk’s office on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday prior to the election without an excuse, which undoubtedly raised the absentee percentage, but is still incredibly high.
County Races
There were two major county races decided election night, with the judge/executive and sheriff races. Magoffin County Judge/Executive Matthew Wireman (D) secured his bid for re-election against Carter Whitaker (R), winning 3,160 to 1,891. With incumbent Sheriff Carson Montgomery losing in the primary, the race was opened to two new candidates, with William “Bill” Meade (R) winning against David Neil Howard (D), 3,001 to 2,077.
The Magoffin County Fiscal Court is going to look a bit different next year, with Eddie Jenkins (R) beating incumbent Pernell “Buck” Lemaster (D), who has served as District 2 magistrate for 24 years. Sam Bailey Jr. (D) won 851 to 751 against Ronnie Lovely (R) for District 3 magistrate and, in District 1, incumbent Darrel Ray Howard (R) retained his seat against Andrew Joseph Risner (D).
James Rudd (R) and Wade Collinsworth (R) won their constable races for District 1 and 2, and Richard Rex Love (D) ran unopposed for District 3.
With four candidates vying for the three positions on the soil and water conservation board, Avavan Arnett-Deaton with 2,457 votes, Dallas Patrick with 2,367, and Kenneth “Poor Boy” Williams with 2,037 secured their seats on the board, with Ronald Williams receiving 1,660 votes.
City Races
The closest race, which will have to be determined in circuit court, was the Salyersville mayor’s race, with former mayor Stanley Howard winning by 10 votes against incumbent Mayor James “Pete” Shepherd. The full explanation of the court case can be found on page A1 of this week’s paper.
The top six candidates securing their seats on the city council are as follows: Paul Montgomery with 343 votes, Colin Ray Jackson with 314, Herbert “Tex” Holbrook with 280, Phyllis Howard with 266, Patricia Arnett-Frazier with 265 and Darrel G. Arnett with 256.
Races Previously Decided in the Primary
There were plenty of races with unopposed candidates on the ballot this week, with the following automatically winning their respective races without contest: John Blanton (R) as state representative for the 92nd district, Becky Allen (R) as PVA, Travis Joseph (D) as county attorney, Renee Arnett-Shepherd (D) as county clerk, Bryan Montgomery (D) as jailer, Mark Jenkins (D) as coroner, Kerry Howard (D) as county surveyor, Richard Rex Love (D) as constable District 3, Court of Appeals 7th Appellate District Judges Sara Combs and Larry E. Thompson, Kim Cornett Childers as circuit judge in the 36th judicial district, Dennis Prater as district judge of the 36th judicial district, and Board of Education members Rodney R. Ward (District 1) and Jesse L. Rudd II (District 4).
Federal and State Level
Magoffin County mirrored the federal returns, with 3,404 votes cast in favor of U.S. Senator Rand Paul’s (R) re-election, compared to 1,472 for Charles Booker (D). Long-standing U.S. Representative Harold “Hal” Rogers won his bid to retain his seat, now set to begin his 22nd term in January, and securing four times the Magoffin County votes as his opponent, Conor Halbleib (D). State Senator Brandon Smith (R) swept his re-election against Sid Allen (D) at both the state and county level.
Magoffin County voters seemed to favor both constitutional amendments on the ballot, with 2,283 votes in favor of the amendment that would allow legislators to call their own special sessions, as opposed to 1,985 “no” votes, and 2,933 “yes” votes in favor of adding anti-abortion language to the state’s constitution, compared to 1,703 “no” votes. Though winning in Magoffin, both amendments failed to pass statewide.
The Independent will continue to follow the election news concerning the mayor’s race court case, any possible recanvasses and if any corrections are made to the election results until the results can be certified.
