The runoff picture for the Chancery district 14, Place 1 judgeship remained unclear Thursday evening after Oktibbeha County released updated vote totals.
Overall, Rodney Faver held a clear first-place position over the 14-1 voting area, which includes part of Oktibbeha County and all of Webster and Chickasaw counties, with 5,004 votes, or about 27.7 percent.
However, the margin between second an third place was a razor-thin four votes after Thursday’s update.
Lee Ann Turner is currently second, with 4,782 votes, or 26.49 percent. Elizabeth Ausbern is third, with 4,778 votes, or 26.47 percent of the vote.
In Chickasaw County, Faver got 149 votes; Turner got 481; and Ausbern got 3,091. In Oktibbeha County, Faver received 3,626 votes, followed by Turner’s 3,049 and Ausbern’s 866. In Webster County, Faver got 1,229 votes; Turner got 1,252 and Ausbern received 821.
Gene Barton and Todd Bennett finished fourth and fifth, with 2,747 and 739 total votes, respectively, across the sub-district.
The top two candidates from the five-candidate field will advance to a Nov. 27 runoff election. Faver appears comfortably positioned to advance to the runoff.
However, each of the counties has remaining affidavits to count. A Webster County Circuit Clerk’s Office employee said the office was still counting affidavit ballots and would release updated numbers when that process is completed. While no updated numbers were available from Webster County, the official said the county had accepted about 30 affidavit ballots as of Thursday afternoon.
Chickasaw County has eight no-ID absentee ballots left to count. Oktibbeha County has two. Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk Tony Rook said voters have five business days to show present voter ID for their affidavit ballots to count. With a Veteran’s Day holiday on Monday, that deadline will extend to Nov. 14.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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