STARKVILLE – Incumbent Lynn Spruill has won the Democratic mayoral primary, narrowly avoiding a runoff against former Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough.
After all valid votes were counted, the unofficial total number of ballots stood at 2,792 according to City Clerk Lesa Hardin, placing the threshold to win outright at 1,397. In total Spruill received 1,422 (50.93%), Yarbrough received 1,252 (44.84%) and Starkville High School teacher Brenna Betts received 118 (4.23%).
Spruill moves on to face Republican Roger Bassett in the June 3 general election.
“I am grateful and really honored that the residents believe we’ve gone in a direction they wish to support and that they wish to continue,” Spruill said. “… Municipal elections are so much more impactful (to people) than the presidential election. This is one vote, one person, you get your vote cast and counted. I’d like to have seen more engagement, but we’ll do our best to encourage people to turn out for the general election.”
The primary came down to affidavit votes because Spruill’s margin of victory on Tuesday night was narrow enough that affidavits could have theoretically dropped her below a majority.
Affidavit ballots are cast when poll workers cannot determine whether voters are registered or where their voting precinct is or if a voter doesn’t present a valid ID on election day.
Starkville’s municipal election commission processed 63 Democratic affidavit ballots Wednesday, with 17 votes declared invalid and 46 declared valid. By the time they finished, Spruill was 25 votes above the threshold that would have triggered a runoff.
Spruill noted after the final count that turnout had been much lower than she’d hoped, speculating that people might be tired of national politics and tuning out more generally.
“It may be just political fatigue,” she said. “The presidential election was quite contentious and people may not feel that municipal elections are as important as I think they are. We impact everyday life in a community, so I wish that they would be more engaged.”
Spruill also said that she’d be reaching out to speak with Yarbrough in the near future to go over what his voters top priorities are and what he’s heard from them directly during the campaign.
“I want to make sure we’re exploring what we can do to make sure those people who voted (for someone else) feel included and impacted by what we’re doing,” she said. “… I’m going to sit down with Charles. I’ve heard what he said in the forums but there’s a difference between that and having a conversation about what he’s hearing about people not feeling included. … I want to find out where I’m lacking in that piece.”
Speaking with The Dispatch after the count finished, Yarbrough congratulated Spruill on her victory and thanked his supporters for getting out to vote.
“I expected it to be close, and thought that we’d have enough votes to pull it off,” Yarbrough told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “… I am disappointed that out of roughly 27,000 registered voters, only 2,700 showed up. But I’m very thankful for those that did. The support for my campaign was overwhelming. I’m looking forward to this city moving forward, and congratulations to Mayor Spruill as she moves to the general election.”
Yarbrough said that among his voters, he’s heard a strong desire for transparency in government decision-making.
“The most important thing I’ve heard over these last four months has been transparency and leadership who listen,” he said. “Most people feel like there’s only a certain population that’s listened to. … Basically they want fairness for everybody, for something if it’s good for one person to be good for somebody else too.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
