The latest: Local election results in; national results still coming in

(Caitlan Butler/News-Times)
(Caitlan Butler/News-Times)

Election results were still incoming at press time Tuesday, but early results showed Republicans ahead in most races. According to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, 100% of areas in Union County were reporting.

In El Dorado, Dianne Hammond was leading in the race for the City Council’s Ward 4, Position 2 seat. Hammond, the incumbent, has served for 16 years in the position, while Kensel Green previously represented residents of Ward 3. At 8:51 p.m. Tuesday, Hammond was ahead with 901 votes to Green’s 843.

In the Ward 4, Position 1 race, Paul D. Choate led with 975 votes to Patrick D. Frazier’s 762. The incumbent, Choate, was elected to the position in 2018, while Frazier is a newcomer to electoral politics, though he does serve as the Vice-chairman of the Union County Democratic Committee.

For the Ward 1, Position 2 seat, Billy E. Blann had pulled ahead by press-time Tuesday, leading with 720 votes to Avo Vartenian’s 654. Blann has served on the El Dorado City Council for 12 years. While Vartenian hasn’t held office, he has served in appointed positions on the El Dorado Works Board and El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex Board.

In Calion, Kristi Purifoy was ahead, with 31 votes to Joe Ann Williams’ 22. Williams is the incumbent in the race for the City Council’s Ward 3, Position 1 seat, having served one term in the position. Both Williams and Purifoy ran as Independents.

In Norphlet, Joel Dykes was winning the race for the City Council’s Ward 2, Position 1 seat at press time. Wanda Lyn Young, a newcomer and the Chair of the Union County Democratic Committee, faced Independent incumbent Joel Dykes in the race. Dykes was ahead at press time with 107 votes to Young’s 23 votes.

The race to represent District 4 on the Union County Quorum Court showed Gary New ahead at press-time, with 566 votes counted for New so far to Storey’s 461 votes. Storey has represented District 4 for eight years. New preceded Storey in the office, having served as the Justice of the Peace for District 4 for 10 years before Storey’s election.

For the Arkansas House of Representatives, Rep. Sonia Barker had pulled ahead by press-time, leading with 3,191 votes to George Calloway’s 2,711 votes. Barker, the incumbent, has served as the representative for District 7 for four years. Calloway, a political newcomer, is a veteran and pastor in El Dorado.

Sen. Trent Garner led in the race to represent District 27 in the Arkansas State Senate. Incumbent Garner had collected 7,646 votes by press-time Tuesday, while Keidra Burrell trailed with 4,562 votes.

Both Senate District 27 and and House District 7 include parts of other counties in addition to Union County.

Local voters also had to decide on whether the Confederate monument on the Union County Courthouse grounds would stay put or be removed. At press-time Tuesday, 65%, or 7,904, had voted to keep the monument on Courthouse grounds, and 34.5%, 4,163, had voted to remove it.

Union County voters also voted on several statewide ballot issues. At press-time Tuesday, 6,903 votes For Issue 1 had been counted and 5,078 votes Against Issue 1 had been counted. On Issue 2, popularly known as the term limits amendment, 6,368 votes had been cast For the issue and 5,399 votes had been case Against it. On Issue 3, which would change the rules for citizen-led ballot initiatives, 5,292 For votes had been counted and 6,226 Against votes had been counted at press-time.

United States Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-4) led in the race for U.S. House District 4 with 7,574 votes at press-time, with Democrat William Hanson and Libertarian Frank L. Gilbert trailing with 4,203 votes and 329 votes respectively. Sen. Tom Cotton led in the race for United States Senate with 7,993 votes, with his Libertarian opposition Ricky Dale Harrington, Jr trailing with 3,857 votes.

President Donald Trump (R) led in the Presidential race, with 7,385 votes in his favor, and Joe Biden (D) trailed with 4,534 votes. No other candidates had a large number of votes in the race.

Visit eldoradonews.com for the latest on the 2020 election.

UPDATE 10:09 p.m.

With 100% of local precincts reporting, and 16,605 total votes cast, Union County's election results are in. Of the total number of votes cast, 8,761 were early votes and 1,267 were absentee votes. According to the Union County Election Commission, 115 absentee ballots were discounted.

Provisional ballots are still out, and the final results are yet to be certified by the Arkansas Secretary of State's Office. A summary distributed to the News-Times at 9:40 p.m. Tuesday indicated the following results for Union County:

United States President

Phil Collins/Billy Joe Parker (Prohibition Party): 32 / .19%

Brock Pierce/Karla Ballard (Independent): 47 / .28%

J.R. Myers/Tiara Lusk (Life and Liberty): 12 / .07%

President Donald Trump/Vice President Mike Pence (Republican): 10,446 / 63.13%

Joe Biden/Kamala Harris (Democrat): 5,559 / 33.59%

Brian T. Carroll/Amar Patel (American Solidarity Party): 27 / .16%

Howie Hawkins/Angela Walker (Green Party): 36 / .22%

Rocky de la Fuente/Darcy Richardson (Alliance Party): 4 / .02%

Kanye West/Michelle Tidball (Independent): 46 / .28%

Gloria la Riva/Sunil Freeman (Party for Socialism and Liberation): 36 / .22%

Don Blankenship/William Mohr (Constitution Party): 74 / .45%

Connie Gammon/Phil Collins (Independent): 48 / .29%

Jo Jorgenson/Spike Cohen (Libertarian): 181 / 1.09%

Total votes cast: 16,548

United States Senate

Sen. Tom Cotton (Republican): 11,253 / 70.47%

Ricky Dale Harrington, Jr. (Libertarian): 4,715 / 29.53%

Total votes cast: 15,968

United States Congressional District 4

Rep. Bruce Westerman (Republican): 10,663 / 65.51%

Frank L. Gilbert (Libertarian): 423 / 2.60%

William H. Hansen (Democrat): 5,192 / 31.90%

Total votes cast: 16,278

Arkansas Senate District 27

Keidra Burrell (Democrat): 5,617 / 34.22%

Sen. Trent Garner (Republican): 10,796 / 65.78%

Total votes cast: 16,413

Arkansas House of Representatives District 6

Rep. Matthew Shepherd (Republican): 7,662 / 100%

Total votes cast: 7,662

Arkansas House District 7

George Calloway, Jr (Democrat): 3,541 / 43.39%

Rep. Sonia Barker (Republican): 4,602 / 56.51%

Total votes cast: 8,143

Justice of the Peace District 4

Dean Storey (Republican) (incumbent): 505 / 45.41%

Gary New (Independent): 607 / 54.59%

Total votes cast: 1,112

Calion City Council, Ward 3, Position 1

Joe Ann Williams (Independent) (incumbent): 89 / 49.72%

Kristi Purifoy (Independent): 90 / 50.28%

Total votes cast: 179

El Dorado City Council, Ward 1, Position 2

Billy E. Blann (Republican) (incumbent): 735 / 52.09%

Avo Vartenian (Independent): 676 / 47.91%

Total votes cast: 1,411

El Dorado City Council, Ward 4, Position 1

Paul D. Choate (Republican) (incumbent): 991 / 56.95%

Patrick D. Frazier (Democrat): 777 / 43.95%

Total votes cast: 1,768

El Dorado City Council, Ward 4, Position 2

Kensel Green (Democrat): 857 / 48.28%

Dianne Hammond (Republican) (incumbent): 918 / 51.72%

Total votes cast: 1,775

Norphlet City Council, Ward 2, Position 1

Joel Dykes (Independent) (incumbent): 274 / 83.79%

Wanda Lyn Young (Democrat): 53 / 16.21%

Total votes cast: 327

Unopposed candidates countywide

For: 12,174

Total votes cast: 12,174

Arkansas Ballot Issue 1

For: 8,996 / 55.82%

Against: 7,120 / 44.18%

Total votes cast: 16,116

Arkansas Ballot Issue 2

For: 8,441 / 53.28%

Against: 7,402 / 46.72%

Total votes cast: 15,843

Arkansas Ballot Issue 3

For: 7,078 / 45.63%

Against: 8,433 / 54.37%

Total votes cast: 15,511

Arkansas Ballot Issue 6

For: 8,074 / 54.5%

Against: 7,402 / 46.72%

Total votes cast: 14,816

Union County Ballot Issue 1

For: 11,075 / 68.28%

Against: 5,145 / 31.72%

Total votes cast: 16,220

UPDATE 10:51 p.m.:

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has called Union County's local races for the state Legislature, as well as for Arkansas Ballot Issues.

According to the Democrat Gazette, incumbent Sen. Trent Garner and Rep. Sonia Barker will both keep their seats. The Democrat-Gazette reported these results for the races:

Arkansas House District 7

Rep. Sonia Barker (R): 6,211 / 60.27%

George Calloway, Jr (D): 4,094 / 39.73%

Arkansas Senate District 27

Sen. Trent Garner (R): 19,611 / 61.39%

Keidra Burrell (D): 12,334 / 38.61%

On the statewide ballot issues, the Democrat-Gazette lsited the following vote totals at 10:55 p.m. Nov. 3:

Issue 1

For: 591,605 / 55.29%

Against: 478,375 / 44.71%

Issue 2

For: 581,249 / 55.4%

Against: 468,020 / 44.6%

Issue 3

Against: 571,415 / 55.83%

For: 452,008 / 44.17%

The Democrat-Gazette also called races for the United States legislature:

U.S. House District 4

Rep. Bruce Westerman (R): 176,392 / 69.54%

William Hanson (D): 70,164 / 27.66%

Frank Gilbert (L): 7,086 / 2.79%

The Associated Press called Arkansas for President Donald Trump.

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