Peter Loris, chairman of the Washington County Election Commission, watches as commissioners tally votes inside the election headquarters Tuesday night at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.
Photo: Todd Gill, Flyer staff
Two of the three contested City Council races were decided in Fayetteville early Wednesday morning after the final, unofficial results were released for the Nov. 4 general election.
Peter Loris, chairman of the Washington County Election Commission, delivered the results at about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday inside the election headquarters at the Washington County Courthouse.
In Ward 1, Paul Phaneuf took 39 percent of the votes, followed by Alderwoman Adella Gray‘s 37 percent and Sonia Davis Gutierrez‘ 25 percent. Phaneuf and Gray will likely face each other in a Nov. 25 runoff election.
In Arkansas, if a single municipal candidate does not win a majority of the votes, the two people with the most votes move to a runoff election unless the leading candidate receives more than 40 percent of the votes and is ahead of the runner-up by 20 percent.
In Ward 2, Mark Kinion was re-elected to a second four-year term after securing 49 percent of the votes, followed by Robert Patton‘s 28 percent and Joshua Crawford’s 23 percent.
In Ward 4, John La Tour took 43 percent of the votes to win Rhonda Adams’ soon-to-be vacant seat. La Tour was followed by Ray Boudreaux (20%), D’Andre Jones (14%), Phillip McKnight (10%), Craig Honchell (8%) and Robert Williams (5%).
La Tour and Phaneuf were two of the most outspoken opponents to a contentious new civil rights ordinance passed by the City Council in August. The two men were part of Repeal 119, a group seeking to repeal the new law. Repeal 119 gathered enough signatures to force a Dec. 9 special election that will decide the fate of the ordinance.
According to finance and expenditure reports filed last week with the Washington County Clerk’s office, La Tour and Phaneuf received a combined $6,000 in campaign contributions from Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the Springdale couple who are featured in the TV show “19 Kids and Counting.”
Phaneuf reported $6,081 in total contributions from 13 donors, including $4,000 from the Duggars, but his paper indicated he had only spent $913 as of Oct. 28. Gray reported $3,205 in total contributions, including $2,420 of her own money. Gray had spent $2,677 as of last week.
Kinion raised and spent the least in Ward 2 with $1,025 in contributions and $1,252 in expenditures.
La Tour spent the most of all City Council candidates, reporting $17,395 in expenditures. La Tour received $9,965 in donations (including $2,000 from the Duggars), and noted a personal loan of $12,156 to his campaign.
Ward 3 Alderman Justin Tennant ran unopposed in the election along with City Attorney Kit Williams and City Clerk Sondra Smith.
According to the election report released Wednesday, 54,754 people – or 47 percent of the 114,901 registered voters – cast ballots in the Nov. 4 general election. Officials said about 80 military and provisional ballots had not yet been counted.
Release of the early and absentee voting results were delayed well past the normal timeframe Tuesday night.
Loris said the delay was due to a high turnout of voters this election season, and a computer glitch that was discovered in the first day of early voting when electronic touch screens didn’t properly display candidates’ parties. Loris said the issue was corrected before early voting resumed the following day, and added that those ballots were divided from the others to be counted separately. He said a recount of the ballots affected by the computer error led to additional delays Tuesday.
Early voting for the Nov. 25 runoff election begins Nov. 18.
Fayetteville City Council races (unofficial results)
Ward 1
Paul Phaneuf – 1,759 (39%)
Alderwoman Adella Gray – 1,661 (37%)
Sonia Davis Gutierrez – 1,110 (25%)
Ward 2
Alderman Mark Kinion – 1,759 (49%)
Robert Patton – 982 (28%)
Joshua Crawford – 828 (23%)
Ward 4
John La Tour – 2,006 (43%)
Ray Boudreaux – 963 (20%)
D’Andre Jones – 672 (14%)
Phillip McKnight – 447 (10%)
Craig Honchell – 376 (8%)
Robert Williams – 240 (5%)
We’ve listed the unofficial results for the county, statewide and national races below. When looking at state or national races, keep in mind these numbers are only for Washington County, Arkansas.
National races (Washington County results only)
U.S. Senate
Tom Cotton (Republican) – 29,433 (54%)
Senator Mark Pryor (Democrat) – 22,267 (41%)
Mark H. Swaney (Green) – 1,384 (3%)
Nathan LaFrance (Libertarian) – 1,282 (2%)
U.S. Congress District 03
Steve Womack (Republican) – 38,132 (74%)
Grant Brand (Libertarian) – 13,435 (26%)
Statewide races (Washington County results only)
Governor
Asa Hutchinson (Republican) – 30,109 (55%)
Mike Ross (Democrat) – 22,405 (41%)
Frank Gilbert (Libertarian) – 1,157 (2%)
J. Joshua Drake (Green Party) – 827 (2%)
Lieutenant Governor
Congressman Tim Griffin (Republican) – 29,948 (56%)
John Burkhalter (Democrat) – 20,879 (39%)
Christopher Olsen (Libertarian) – 2,908 (5%)
Attorney General
Leslie Rutledge (Republican) – 25,260 (47%)
Representative Nate Steel (Democrat) – 25,013 (47%)
Aaron Cash (Libertarian) – 3,413 (6%)
Secretary of State
Mark Martin (Republican) – 31,986 (60%)
Susan Inman (Democrat) – 18,673 (35%)
Jacob D. Holloway (Libertarian) – 2,850 (5%)
State Treasurer
Circuit Clerk Dennis Milligan (Republican) – 29,976 (57%)
Karen Sealy Garcia (Democrat) – 19,405 (37%)
Chris Hayes (Libertarian) – 3,579 (7%)
Auditor of State
Representative Andrea Lea (Republican) – 29,549 (56%)
Regina Stewart Hampton (Democrat) – 19,609 (37%)
Brian Leach (Libertarian) – 3,292 (6%)
Commissioner of State Lands
Commissioner John Thurston (Republican) – 28,876 (37%)
Mark A. Robertson (Democrat) – 18,980 (36%)
Elvis D. Presley (Libertarian) – 3,835 (7%)
State Representatives (Washington County results only)
District 80
Rep. Charlene Fite (Republican) – 4,989 (78%)
Taylor Watkins (Libertarian) – 1,421 (22%)
District 84
Charlie Collins (Republican) – 6,483 (58%)
Candy Clark (Democrat) – 4,650 (42%)
District 94
Rebecca Petty (Republican) – (%)
Grimsley Graham (Democrat) – (%)
District 97
Bob Ballinger (Republican) – 1,986 (74%)
Charles “Sonny” Carter (Democrat) – 685 (26%)
Washington County races
County Judge
County Judge Marilyn Edwards (Democrat) – 27,141 (51%)
Assessor Jeff Williams (Republican) – 26,232 (49%)
County Sheriff
Sheriff Tim Helder (Democrat) – 36,136 (68%)
Mort Marshall (Republican) – 17,131 (32%)
Circuit Clerk
Circuit Clerk Kyle Sylvester (Republican) – 40,645 (100%)
Justice of the Peace District 4
Wm. Bill Ussery (Republican) – 633 (67%)
Yessie Hernandez – (Democrat) – 314 (33%)
Justice of the Peace District 7
Justice of the Peace Rick Cochran (Republican) – 2,692 (63%)
Kendra Boyle – (Democrat) – 1,596 (37%)
Justice of the Peace District 8
Daniel William Balls (Democrat) – 1,844 (55%)
Armistead C. Freeman III (Republican) – 1,488 (45%)
Justice of the Peace District 10
Robert Dennis (Republican) – 1,869 (58%)
James Miller (Democrat) – 1,334 (42%)
Justice of the Peace District 13
Joel Maxwell (Republican) – 2,423 (64%)
Rhonda Hulse (Democrat) – 1,341 – (36%)
Justice of the Peace District 14
Ann Harbison (Democrat) – 2,252 (53%)
Jim Renfrow (Republican) – 1,963 (47%)
Constable District 1
Constable John Duggar (Republican) – 10,174 (76%)
Whitfield Hyman (Libertarian) – 3,181 (24%)
Constable District 2
Clint Edward Thomas (Democrat) – 9,743 (55%)
Susan W. Gessler (Republican) – 7,881 (45%)
Constable District 3
Kyle Woodruff (Republican) – 12,468 (63%)
Kenny Yates (Democrat) – 7,438 (37%)
Constitutional Amendments (Washington County results only)
Constitutional Amendment 1 – General Assembly Legislative Committee Review and Approval of State Agencies
For Issue No. 1 – 29,874 (59%)
Against Issue No. 1 – 20,762 (41%)
Constitutional Amendment 2 – Allowing More Time To Gather Signatures on State Wide Initiative or Referendum
For Issue No. 2 – 28,422 (56%)
Against Issue No. 2 – 22,617 (44%)
Constitutional Amendment 3 – Regulating Contributions to Candidates, Barring Gifts from Lobbyists, Setting Salaries, and Term Limits
For Issue No. 3 – 32,175 (61%)
Against Issue No. 3 – 20,353 (39%)
Constitutional Amendment 4 – Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Amendment
For Issue No. 4 – 23,677 (44%)
Against Issue No. 4 – 29,760 (56%)
Constitutional Amendment 5 – Increase the Arkansas Minimum Wage
For Issue No. 5 – 36,122 (68%)
Against Issue No. 5 – 17,320 (32%)
