Voters in Pearl River County have chosen their new District II Supervisor.
Unofficial results show Malcolm Perry will assume the office of District II Supervisor.
Tuesday’s race was between Malcolm Perry and James Ernie Clark, both of which received the most votes during the Nov. 4 general election that included a long list of candidates.
During the general election, Malcolm Perry received 27.52 percent of the vote while James Ernie Clark received 22.21 percent of the vote.
Tuesday Pearl River County voters turned out within that precinct to chose who would win between the two. Perry received 53.55 percent of the vote, or 626 votes. Clark received 46.45 percent of the vote during Tuesday’s runoff, or 543 votes.
Circuit Court Clerk Vickie Harriel said there are still 68 absentee and 14 affidavit votes to count, so these results are not official.
Once affidavits and absentees were counted new results were sent in after press time Tuesday. Those results show that Perry received 53.15 percent of the vote, or 658 ballots, while Clark received 46.85 percent, or 580 ballots. Only two ballots remain to be counted pending proof of identification, Harriel said.
In the general election Perry led the pack, with Clark, H.R. “Ray” Mitchell Jr., Daryl Smith, Matt Mitchell, “Josey” Russell Tynes, Bradley Holston, Frank Vaccarella and E. Earl Lawrence following behind respectively.
This race was necessary because the former District II Supervisor, Joyce Culpepper, passed away in May of this year.
Her daughter, Michele Carr, has since filled the seat in the interim, but decided not to run to hold the seat in the general election.
Joyce Culpepper also filled the seat when her husband, Charles, passed in November of 2009.