STARKVILLE — Election officials in Starkville Thursday held a recount of the general election results from Ward 2, but when all was said and done, the vote totals remained the same.
Ward 2 Alderman Rodney Lincoln lost in his bid for re-election Tuesday to challenger Sandra Sistrunk, 146 votes to 137. Lincoln said he requested the recount at the behest of his constituents, who felt the close election results deserved another look.
“My supporters asked me to request this recount,” Lincoln said. “So that’s what we did.”
Election officials didn’t go back and count each vote registered on the city’s voting machines, however. They only recounted the 13 absentee ballots in Ward 2. Seven of the absentee ballots were for Sistrunk, while the remaining six were for Lincoln.
City Clerk Markeeta Outlaw said the absentee ballots are all that can be contested at this time. The voting machine totals would have to be challenged in court, she said.
“That wouldn’t be something we could do,” Outlaw said, in reference to a voting machine recount. “Those (results) are in a taped canister and that is sealed. That has to remain sealed until or unless a contest is filed in (Oktibbeha County) Circuit Court.”
Lincoln said he has no plans to challenge the results in court.
“It might hinder or delay the time Ms. Sistrunk would be able to serve, and Ward 2 needs an alderman at all times,” Lincoln said.
After the recount Thursday, Lincoln and Sistrunk laughed and joked. They also made plans to have lunch and talk about the future of Ward 2.
Tim Pratt is the Starkville Bureau Reporter for The Commercial Dispatch.
