Jackson Free Press

Carlyn Hicks defeated Greta Harris at the special election on Tuesday, Nov. 2, for Subdistrict 1 Hinds County Court Judge. Based on the unofficial result released Tuesday night, Hicks received 55.53% of the total vote cast with the complete 35 precincts reporting, Harris got 43.95%.

The Mississippi Supreme Court appointed Hicks to replace Melvin Priester, Sr., after he resigned on June 3, 2020, as Subdistrict 1 Hinds County Court Judge.

In a Facebook post on Nov. 3, Hicks thanked her voters and supporters. "I remain humbled by the support that I have received and will diligently continue to serve all of Hinds County as a fair and impartial member of our judiciary with the utmost integrity," she wrote.

The Hinds County Sheriff and Hinds County District 5 Constable special elections, which also took place yesterday, will head to runoff as no candidate crossed the 50% threshold to preclude a runoff election on Nov. 23.

Sheriff Special Election

Based on unofficial results, Interim Sheriff Marshand Crisler led the 13 sheriff candidates after reporting from 106 out of 108 precincts, with 10,111 votes (31.03%), followed by Hinds County Sheriff's Office's Investigation Division Captain Tyree Jones with 7,869 votes (24.15%). The two will go head to head in the runoff election scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 23. The position became open after Lee Vance died in August, after testing positive to COVID-19.

"The voters made their choice apparent this evening; they wanted someone who could take this job to the next level," Crisler said yesterday, The Clarion Ledger reported.

In a Facebook post today, Jones called on his supporters to continue working hard toward the runoff election. "I look forward to continuing to connect with the people and gather more support as we move forward," he wrote.

Election officials did not remove "media sticks" from voting machines at the precincts located at Learned, Miss., and Livingston in Jackson, District 1 Election Commissioner Kidada Brown told the Jackson Free Press yesterday.

"So we will get those in tomorrow (today)," she said. "The results are still unofficial right now; we have 10 days until we have to close the polls out." A total of 853 absentee voters came in, with more expected.

"It was a low turnout, so we just hope that everybody will come back out Nov. 23 to cast and vote," Brown added.

In third place in the sheriff election was Leon Seals with 7,047 votes, followed by Beverly Harris-Williams with 2,605 votes, and Colendula Green with 1,103 votes. Richard Spooner got 1,038 votes, Eric Wall got 883 votes, Leslie Tannehill, 749 votes, Brandon Canton, 327 votes, Torrence Mayfield, 299 votes, Reginald Thompson, 280 votes, Cheryl Matory, 150 votes, and Ather West, 102 votes.

There were 32,633 votes in the special election from 166,518 registered voters in the county, showing a 19.60% voter turnout.

Constable Special Election

The special election for District 5 constable will also head for a runoff on Tuesday, Nov. 23, featuring Beverly Green and Juan Cloy. Green garnered 1,365 votes (27.19%), and Cloy followed closely with 1,153 votes (22.97%), according to the unofficial result from the 25 precincts in the district released yesterday. Bennie C. Buckner resigned from the post in August, and the Hinds County Board of Supervisors appointed Demario E. Benson in the interim on Aug. 16.

On Tuesday, Benson received 680 votes, Timothy Myles netted 704 votes, Larry White got 440 votes, Marlow Stewart received 310 votes, Juan Gray yielded 268 votes, and President Manuel got 81 votes.

Email story tips to city/county reporter Kayode Crown at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @kayodecrown.