Newton County voters headed to the polls Tuesday to choose representatives at the national and local levels. Throughout the day, poll workers across the county reported a strong turnout, with voter participation soaring past prior midterm election numbers.
“It hasn’t been this good since Obama first ran,” said Margaret Moore, a poll worker at the Newton 1 polling location.
Moore said 254 people had voted at her location as of 1 p.m., and she expected that number to rise after 5 p.m., when residents would begin to get off work.
At the Newton County Courthouse in Decatur, poll worker Darnell Graham also reported higher than expected turnout. At 1:47 p.m., he said 154 votes had been cast at his location.
“That’s unusual,” he said.
Although final tallies for the midterm results are still a few days away, as circuit clerks work to verify provisional ballots, unofficial results show the results of voters’ hard work.
For the U.S. Senate, Newton County voters have chosen the incumbent, Sen. Roger Wicker, to return to his seat. Of the 6994 votes counted, Wicker received 4912, 70.23 percent, of the vote in Newton County. The challenger, Democrat David Baria, received 1928 votes, or 27.57 percent.
Statewide, Wicker received 58.7 percent of the vote against Baria’s 39.3 percent, according to election results from Politico.
In the special Senate race, the winner of which will serve out the rest of Sen. Thad Cochran’s term in the U.S. Senate, is still undecided. Cindy Hyde-Smith, former state Secretary of Agriculture, who Gov. Phil Byrant appointed to fill Cochran’s seat after his resignation April 1, and Mike Espy, who served a brief stint as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Bill Clinton, lead the race with 45.76 percent, or 3256 of 7116 votes cast, going to Hyde-Smith and 29.26 percent of votes cast for Espy in Newton County.
Statewide, Hyde-Smith received 41.4 percent of votes, and Espy received 40.9 percent, according to Politico.
Chris McDaniel, who previously ran against Cochran in 2014, and Toby Bernard Bartee also appeared on the ballot for the special Senate race. McDaniel received 23.51 percent of the vote in Newton County, or 1673 of 7116 votes. Toby Bernard Bartee received 100 votes, or 1.41 percent.
With no candidate in the special Senate election receiving more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election between the top two candidates, Hyde-Smith and Espy, will be held to determine the winner. The runoff is scheduled for Nov. 27, which is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Local Races
Also, on the ballot Tuesday were two seats on the Newton County School Board. In District D, Josh Sanders appeared on the ballot unopposed as his opponent withdrew from the race shortly after the September qualifying deadline. Sanders received 821 of 822 votes, with one reported write-in.
In District C, D.M. ‘Mark’ Savell, who was running for reelection, was edged out by challenger Marty McKee. Of the 621 votes cast in that race, McKee received 342, or 55.07 percent, to beat Savell’s 279 votes, 44.93 percent.
Voters also choose Robert M. Logan Jr. to serve as District 2 Chancery Court judge, and C.A. Collins and Mark Duncan to serve as Circuit Court District 8 judges. All three judges ran unopposed.
