When the doors of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse were locked Tuesday, one county primary was still undecided.
The Democratic primary for Oktibbeha County Sheriff saw incumbent Dolph Bryan, who has served in that role since 1976, finish with 2029 votes and nearly 600 more votes than the next closest candidate. With just 36 percent of the votes, Bryan will face a runoff for the second straight election cycle.
From there, though, is where the race got interesting.
First-time sheriff candidate Steve Gladney finished with 1,349 votes while third-time sheriff candidate Charlie Sanders earned 1,292. Jessie “Bone” Oden finished with 1,015 votes.
Tallies include 492 absentee ballots, but 115 affidavit ballots remain and will be counted today.
All three candidates remained at the courthouse until 12:30 a.m., nearly two hours after the announcement of unofficial results of the 21 polling precincts. Gladney and Sanders stuck around to see if the absentee ballots helped close the 57-vote gap between them.
“Overall, it was a lot closer than I expected it to be,” said Sanders, who lost to Bryan in the 2007 runoff. “It was a very heated race, but I”d like to thank all my fellow candidates for a good, clean race.”
Gladney, though he would have liked to had widened the gap on Sanders and sealed his spot for the runoff, said he”d sleep well knowing he”s in the lead.
“At least I”ve got a chance,” Gladney said. “It can still change, even tomorrow.”
The winner of the runoff will face Republican candidate Rudy Johnson, the current president of the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District.
Bryan said he was surprised the votes were so close, but he anticipated losing some of his Democratic supporters.
“I still was thinking I”d get a few more of them anyway,” Bryan said. “But I”ve got a fairly good lead. Just getting geared up to start the second phase.”
Additional runoffs
The Democratic bid for the Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk was the closest of all the races to go to a runoff.
Including absentee votes, Teresa Davis-Roberson finished with 2,116 votes (38.51 percent), nearly 800 more votes than the next closest challenger. From there, four other candidates were separated by a total of just 336 votes.
Dave Holley, currently an investigator for the district attorney”s office, had 1,110 votes, while Debra Prisock-Wood finished with 1,337. Dorothy Isaac had 1,001.
Prisock-Wood will face Davis-Roberson in the runoff to replace Angie McGinnis, who has served 22 years and did not see re-election this year.
The Democratic nomination for Oktibbeha County Tax Accessor/Collector also will go to runoff. Debbie Carrithers earned 2,383 votes and will face Velisia “Lisa” Wynn, who earned 1,945 votes.
The six-candidate field for the Democratic bid for District 5 Supervisor saw incumbent John L. Young finish with 427 votes, nearly 35 percent. He”ll face Joe L. Williams, who earned 292 votes, on Aug. 23.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.