Paula Drungole-Ellis cruised past Roy A. Perkins en route to the only clear victory in a trio of elections for the 14th Chancery district on Tuesday.
Ellis and Perkins were competing for the subdistrict 14-3 judgeship, for which Chancery Judge Dorothy Colom is not seeking another term.
As results came in Tuesday night, Ellis led Perkins in every county in the 14-3 race. Across the entire district, as of the end of Tuesday night, with absentee ballots still to be counted in Oktibbeha and Clay counties and Noxubee County reporting five of eight precincts, Ellis had 9,537 votes to Perkins’ 5,574, or about 63 percent of the vote.
Tuesday’s other chancery judge elections were less decisive.
The five-candidate subdistrict 14-1 race to replace Judge Kenneth Burns, who is not seeking another term, between Elizabeth Ausbern, Gene Barton, Todd Bennett, Rodney Faver and Lee Ann Turner appeared to be heading to a runoff at the end of the night on Tuesday.
Ausbern, Faver and Tuner were the top vote-earners with 26.4 percent, 27.6 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively, with absentee ballots still to be counted in Oktibbeha County and not all precincts yet reporting in Webster and Chickasaw counties.
The three-candidate subdistrict 14-2 race between Gary Goodwin, Carrie Jourdan and Joe Studdard also appeared to be heading to a runoff on Tuesday. The election is to replace Judge Jim Davidson, who is also not seeking another term on the court.
Studdard led at the end of the night on Tuesday with 37.8 percent of the vote. Jourdan had 36.6 percent of the vote, and Goodwin had 25.5 percent. The result included full election day and absentee ballots from Lowndes County, with Clay County still to count absentee ballots
None of Tuesday’s results yet include affidavit ballots, which will be counted Wednesday.
The Dispatch will have updated coverage of Tuesday’s elections in Wednesday’s edition.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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