Voting results have been certified for the El Dorado mayoral runoff election between Republican candidates Bill Luther and Chris Lutman.
The Union County Election Commission met last week and released the official tally from the June 19 runoff, in which Luther defeated Lutman 557 - 445 to win the Republican bid for the General Election.
With the win, Luther will go on to face Democratic challenger Veronica Creer in November to determine who will serve as the next mayor of El Dorado.
A total of 1,002 ballots were cast in the runoff, with Luther leading in each category, except in Ward 4 and with provisional ballots.
Among Ward 4 voters, the pair tied with 76 votes apiece.
Registered El Dorado voters who voted in the Republican preferential primary election on May 22 or those who didn’t vote in the primary at all were eligible to participate in the runoff election.
Five provisional ballots were cast in the runoff, and Lutman picked up the majority of those ballots.
Luther took the overwhelming majority of the 31 paper ballots that were counted, securing 26 votes.
Most voters in the runoff took advantage of the early voting period, casting 454 ballots.
Ward 3 recorded the lowest turnout with 28 votes and Ward 2 posted the highest voting count with 186.
Luther and Creer have stepped up their campaigns in preparation for the General Election on Nov. 6.
Other city races that will appear on the ballot in November are include Paul Choate (R) and Patrick Frazier (D), who will face each other for the Ward 4, Position 1 seat that is held by Alderman Mary McAdams.
Aldermen Dianne Hammond, Vance Williamson, Judy Ward, Willie McGhee and Mike Rice are all running unopposed.
Robert Henderson is the only candidate who filed to run for the Ward 1, Position 2, seat that is held by Alderman Billy Blann, who will run as an independent.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.