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Roses and thorns: 4/11/21
A rose to all the candidates in Tuesday’s municipal primary elections. Five of 11 contested primary elections in Columbus, Starkville and West Point have been decided. Those winning candidates Jacqueline DiCicco (Ward 6 Columbus city Council), Roy A. Perkins (Ward 6 Starkville alderman), Leta Turner (West Point Ward 1 selectman), Ken Poole (West Point Ward 3 selectman) and Jasper Pittman (West Point Ward 5 selectman) have no opponents in the June 8 general election and take office in July. Many of the other contested seats are too close to call during an election where turnout was alarmingly low. We urge citizens who did not vote Tuesday to turn out for the next election either the possible runoffs to decide the primary and certainly in the June 8 general election. Every vote counts, as we saw in this week’s primary.
Bobo looks to be moving on in West Point mayor’s race
Rod Bobo
WEST POINT As the decisive absentee ballot counting stretched into the early morning hours Wednesday, Rod Bobo debated whether to leave the West Point Civic Center and find out the results later in the day.
“It was grueling, just waiting and waiting,” Bobo said. “But I stuck around. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway.”
Finally, at about 1;30 a.m., Bobo got the news he had been waiting for.
Bobo held a 90-vote advantage over his main competition, Cole Bryan 1,593 to 1,503 for the Democratic Party nominee for West Point mayor heading into the June 8 general election against Homer Ryland Jr. (Independent) and Jennifer Harper (Constitution). A third candidate in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary, Tammy Parkerson, didn’t factor into the outcome directly, but the 68 votes she received may yet cast the primary race into a runoff.
Bobo leads West Point mayor’s race with absentees still being processed
Ken Poole
WEST POINT Only one of West Point’s four Democratic primary races had been settled Tuesday evening due to a discrepancy in the absentee vote tallies.
A computer readout of 594 absentee votes did not match the number of paper ballots counted, leaving election officials tediously looking to resolve the issue heading into midnight today.
With enough absentee votes in each ward to alter the outcome, the winner in the mayoral primary and selectmen races in Wards 1 and Ward 5 had yet to be determined.
Rod Bobo
Only in Ward 3, where incumbent Ken Poole held a 122-vote lead over challenger Jonas Robinson with 112 absentee votes outstanding, did the outcome appear clear, although Democratic Party coordinator Jeanatta Edwards said an unknown number of affidavit ballots remained to be counted in that race as well.
Our View: Today’s vote is consequential; make your voice heard
Today, Golden Triangle voters have the opportunity to participate in our nation’s most intimate form of self-government.
Although municipal elections rarely generate the interest and passion typically found in state and national elections, the decisions made in today’s primary elections and in the June general election often have more direct impact on the lives of voters than any other election.
The people chosen for office will be entrusted with how our cities operate – everything from taxes to police and fire to streets to public parks, zoning and a host of other decisions that have a direct bearing on the lives of citizens. There is nothing abstract about the roles these officials will play over the next four years. This is governing at its most basic level.