Casey Carpenter will be Carroll County’s next Chancery Clerk.
The Democratic candidate in Tuesday’s General Election, Carpenter received 69.4 percent of the vote.
“It has been an exciting year,” Carpenter said. “I’m looking forward to working for the county and with the other county officials. I’m ready for this new journey. I want to thank [the voters] for the tremendous support and faith they have in me.”
Carpenter, the owner of C&C Tree Service in Carrollton, will succeed longtime Chancery Clerk Sugar Mullins, who is retiring at the end of this year.
Carpenter received 2,823 votes; independent candidate Jenifer Houston received 709 votes, and Danette Corder Roland, also running as an independent, received 532 votes.
Longtime incumbent Wilton Neal was re-elected in Tuesday’s election. Neal received 2,771 votes or 68.8 percent of the vote, while independent challenger Donna Gregg Harper received 1,252 votes or 31.1 percent of the vote.
Neal was first elected as tax assessor/collector in 1975 at 25 years old. He was sworn in in January 1976. In 2011, Neal chose not to seek re-election, but in 2015, when his successor decided not to run for a second term, Neal chose to seek the seat again and won.
Carroll County will also have a new Beat 2 Supervisor. Josh Hurst, an engineer for AT&T, defeated Jesse C. Saulter, 488 votes to 402 votes. Incumbent Supervisor Terry Brown was defeated in the Democratic Primary by Hurst.
Incumbent Beat 3 Supervisor Dill Tucker was re-elected Tuesday night. He received 454 votes or 52.6 percent of the vote. Independent challengers Marvin Coward received 147 votes and Randy Calvin Tackett received 262 votes.
Voters in Beat 5 also had to vote for a new election commissioner Tuesday, following the resignation of Christy Noah to run for the Chancery Clerk seat.
Jackie L. McKinney, who received 229 votes, will face Lesa Clark Fletcher, who received 182 votes, will face off in a run-off election on November 26. A third candidate, Stanton Smith, received 163 votes in the race.
According to the certified results from the Carroll County Circuit Clerk’s office, 57.5 percent of registered voters in Carroll County cast their ballots in Tuesday’s election, much higher than the 29 percent average statewide.
