By Marcus McClain
The Mississippi County Election Commission verified that the Blytheville mayoral race will require a runoff during their Nov. 14 meeting.
A total of 13 provisional and absentee votes were tallied during the meeting bringing the total number of votes to 2,667. Provisional votes are used to record a vote when a voter’s eligibility is called into question. An ID not being provided at the time a person votes, for example, can cause their vote to be labeled as provisional and verified at a later date. This was the case in many instances in this election. Voters had until noon on Monday, Nov. 14, prior to the election commission meeting, to provide the required identification. If not, their vote would not be tallied.
The two leading candidates, Melisa Logan and John Mayberry, totals were brought to 1132 and 600 respectively with these votes. Five were added to Mayberry’s total, while two were added to Logan’s total.
Under Arkansas law, a municipal candidate can avoid a runoff by receiving at least 40% of the votes and holding at least a 20% advantage of the second-placed candidate. With the provisional votes, Logan totaled 42.44% of the votes, with Mayberry holding 22.49%.
This 19.95% difference requires that there be a runoff on General Election Runoff Day, Dec. 6.
During the election commission meeting however, acceptable forms of ID concerning provisional ballots were called into question. Two voters under provisional ballots used utility bills as their proof of identification. The commission, and chairman Tom Wiktorek, began to accept the utility bills as an approved form of ID.
However, Logan pointed out that under Arkansas Law, utility bills are not listed as an acceptable form of identification. Listed identification materials are listed as but not limited to, a state driver’s license, a state ID, a concealed carry handgun license, a US passport, a military ID document, student/employee ID document issued by a postsecondary educational institution, a public assistance ID card with a photo, a voter ID card, or the detailed list of verification of voter registration ID requirements.
There were two ballots using utility bills as a form of identification in this election in the 3.08 and 3.06 precincts. Prior to the actual vote being tallied, the commission accepted the ballot without knowledge of who the vote went to or which ballot it was.
“We have already taken the ballots out and they’re in the stack, there’s no way we can take them out,” Wiktorek said.
He later added, “I was under the impression that a utility bill was [acceptable]. That was the law as I understood at the time.”
With both Logan and Mayberry present in attendance, they agreed to have one ballot from each precinct removed without knowledge of who the vote went to or which ballot it was.
Early voting for the runoff will begin on Nov. 29, extending to Dec. 5. General runoff day is set for Dec. 6.