Poll workers outnumbered bystanders at the Lowndes County Courthouse Tuesday night, as election results slowly flowed in from the runoffs. Most of the candidates watched the results from home, but a few — like county superintendent of education contender Lynn Wright — milled the halls and manned their cellphones, sighing and grinning in direct proportion to each precinct”s tallies.
Numbers for Wright and his opponent, current Lowndes County School District assistant superintendent Edna McGill, remained close until almost the end of the night, when the New Hope boxes pushed Wright over the top, with 2,635 votes (64.69 percent) to McGill”s 1,429 (35.08 percent). All absentee ballots have been counted, and those numbers represent final results, approved by the courthouse this morning.
Wright, a former New Hope principal, will face Democrat Cliff Reynolds and independents Rusty Greene and Roger Hill in the general election Nov. 8.
Wright said he was “thrilled, humbled and very grateful” to the voters and to his supporters, whom he called “a great team,” and he complimented McGill on “the great campaign she ran, calling her “a great educator and a good friend.”
When reached by phone this morning, McGill declined to comment, issuing an emailed press release instead in which she thanked family, friends, supporters and campaign managers Jace and Cory Ferraez.
“Although I was not the successful Republican candidate for superintendent, I am proud of the manner in which we conducted our campaign,” McGill wrote. “The focus of our campaign was on student achievement and on making sure the students have the very best educational system possible. I hope the general election will be focused on that premise for the sake of the children of Lowndes County.”
For Reynolds, who was also pacing the courthouse halls Tuesday night, the conclusion of the runoff election was a relief, because now he has a firm roster of opponents for the superintendent”s position, which comes with a $125,000 a year annual salary.
Reynolds said he has no intention of changing his strategy; he just plans to run “a clean, competitive campaign.”
Poll workers Ken Linton and Wash Stewart Jr. had a plan as well — rest and a shower after a long, hot day working at the Trinity Retirement Home precinct, where the foot traffic was brisk and the air conditioner struggled to keep temperatures comfortable.
Together, the two men have more than three decades of experience working the polls, and both said it”s a job they love — even in the middle of a Mississippi August.
“You see a lot of people and meet a lot of people,” Linton said. “A lot who come in (Trinity) aren”t as mobile, but they come in because they want to vote.”
Besides, someone has to do it, Stewart added. And come November, he and Linton plan to do it again. At least it will be cooler.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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