Chapman easily wins Beat 3 seat; Pitts leading with affidavit ballots left

By Paul Keane

The Wayne County News

Marion Chapman and Russell "Rusty" Pitts took the two open School Board 
seats during Tuesday night's election.

With 119 affidavit ballots left to be counted, Chapman earned 936 votes 
to 618 for Annita Bonner and 176 for Chundra Blakley in the race for the 
Beat 3 School Board post. In Beat 4, Pitts had 779 votes and Cooley 705, 
meaning the affidavit ballots could swing the race into Cooley's favor.

As of press time, it was not known how many of the 119 affidavit ballots 
were verified and counted, nor how many involved precincts in Beat 4. 
Those ballots were being examined on Wednesday morning.

In the race for Beat 1 Election Commissioner, Katrina Bender won the 
race by a 1,003-690 margin over Charlean Davis Lacy. All of the other 
four election commissioner races featured incumbents who ran unopposed.

With absentee ballots factored in, 68.68 percent of registered voters 
cast a ballot in Tuesday's election. Beat Four had the largest election 
day turnout with 69.69 percent of voters casting a ballot on Tuesday.

In the race for President, Donald Trump dominated the county, bringing 
in 5,971 votes to 3,008 for Kamala Harris.

Incumbent Roger Wicker easy carried the county with 5,981 votes. 
Challenger Ty Pinkins earned 3,054 votes.

Incumbent Mike Ezell easily beat challenger Craig Elliot Raybon by a 
6,230-2,834 margin.

In the race for Supreme Court Justice District 2 (Southern) Position 2, 
David P. Sullivan beat Dawn H. Beam, 5,444-3,006.

For Court of Appeals District 3, Position 1, Jack Wilson ran unopposed 
and earned 1,288 votes.

For Court of Appeals District 5 Position 2, Amy Lassiter St. Pe' edged 
out Ian Baker by a 2,851-2,516 margin. Jennifer T. Schloegel brought in 
1,717 votes.