Breckenridge Texan

Wednesday’s U.S. Mail brought no new ballots to the Stephens County elections office; therefore, in the County Commissioner Precinct 4 race, there will be a run-off between Eric O’Dell and Jamie Whitley, who garnered 168 and 140 votes, respectively, in Tuesday’s Republican Primary Election.

After the votes were tallied Tuesday, only three votes separated Whitley and Donnie Sechrest, who had 137 votes. Christie Latham, the Stephens County Tax Assessor-Collector and Elections Administrator, knew that there were five mail-in ballots that had been mailed out to voters in Precinct 4 and had not yet been received by her office. Four of those ballots had to be postmarked by Primary Election Day, Tuesday, March 6, and received no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, in order to be counted.

The fifth ballot was mailed to an overseas address, and the deadline for it to be received in the local elections office is five days after the election. However, now that none of the other mail-in ballots came in by the deadline, the overseas ballot will not affect the run-off candidates, if it comes in.

The run-off election for the Republican Primary will be May 22 and will also include Steve Spoon and Leslie Blackerby for the Justice of the Peace race.

In Tuesday’s Primary, Sharon Trigg won the County Treasurer race, and Mark McCullough won the County Commissioner Precinct 2 race. In addition to the four contested races, there were four uncontested races. The following unopposed candidates won the Republican Primary: Michael Roach, County Judge; Christie Coapland, District Clerk; Jackie Ensey, County Clerk; and Graham Reaugh, County Chairman.