Voters in Carroll County will go back to the polls as Devo Lancaster of Grenada and Doug Evans of Grenada face off for the Northern District Judge and Circuit Court Judge- Fifth District, Place 2 seats.
The turnout for the election was more than anticipated. This year, Carroll County used a new election machine, where a person votes on a paper ballot and is fed through a machine. Carroll County Circuit Clerk Durward Stanton said there were minor issues with paper jamming but thought the process went smoothly.
Carroll County Residents went to the polls on Tuesday to vote for who they want to be the next school board member, Northern District judge, Circuit Court Judge, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Hicks defeated Avant by six votes. With absentee ballots and in-person ballots accounted, Hicks has 1,064 to Avant’s 1,058.Hicks will serve the last year of former judge Jimmy Avant’s term.
The margin between the two had been close all night long. There are 20 affidavits outstanding, however; because there are precincts that had split ballots it may not make a difference between the two to see who pulls it out.
In the Circuit Court race, Alan “Devo” Lancaster of Grenada and Doug Evans of Grenada will face off in the runoff election. Lancaster leads in the Circuit Court race. WBCI reports that Lancaster has 9,751 votes, Doug Evans has 7,702, Kasey Burney Young has 4,881, and Zachary Madison has 2,141. Broken down by county, Lancaster won Carroll, Montgomery and Grenada Counties – the bigger counties of the seven county district -- with Evans finishing closely behind. Young won Choctaw, Webster and Winston Counties with Evans, Lancaster, and Madison finishing closely behind, Crosby won Attala County with Evans and Lancaster closely behind.
Voters will go back to the polls on November 29 to decide the winner between Evans and Lancaster and Hicks and Avant, because no one receive 50 percent of the vote, plus one.
In the Beat 1 School Board race Kenneth DeLoach has been elected to serve another six-year term. DeLoach is the longest serving board member, serving on the board since 1999. He defeated Claude Elam 569 to 351. With 20 outstanding affidavit votes, it wouldn’t change the outcome of the election because of the margin.
Absentee ballots for the special election runoff will begin on November 19. Polls will open on November 29 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
