There will be a runoff for the House District 31 seat, but it will not be the race many were expecting after the Nov. 6 general election votes were initially tabulated.
Otis Anthony II will faceoff against Leland native Barbara Brooks in the Nov. 27 runoff.
Unofficial votes on Nov. 6 showed that Anthony and Shannon Brown were in first and second place respectively in the eight-person race, but after affidavit ballots were counted, it appears that Brooks came out with more votes than Brown, bumping him from the runoff.
The runoff is necessary since none of the eight candidates gained more than 50 percent of the vote during the general election.
According to numbers provided by the office of Sunflower County Circuit Clerk Carolyn Hamilton on Friday night, Anthony remains in the lead with 1,710 votes, with Brooks in second place with 1,510.
Brown had 1,458 votes at the final tally.
Brooks could not be immediately reached for comment for this story.
In a statement provided to The E-T by Hamilton, she said that the affidavit canvassing process is rigorous and tedious.
After commissioners canvass each ballot in their district, affidavit voters are sent individual letters letting them know if their ballot was accepted or not.
Once this is done, they open the accepted ballots and run them through a scanner so that they can be tabulated with the original numbers.
District 31’s seat became vacant when longtime Rep. Sarah Thomas announced earlier this year her plans to retire.
Gov. Phil Bryant announced this summer the special election would take place on the same date as the general election.
A total of eight people threw their names in the hat for the position.
Aside from the top three mentioned above, final votes show Carolyn Steele Johnson with 948 votes, Charles Modley with 691 votes, BC Hammond with 554, Ada Lindsey with 524 and Jeanette Knighten-Washington with 483 votes.
