11-17-10 —     Voter turnout numbers in last week's election were higher than most 

folks remember seeing in recent years. When all was said and done,  

approximately 57 percent of registered voters in Wayne County went to  

the polls to help make decisions in a number of local races.

    Wayne County Clerk Josephine Gregory can't remember an election when 

voter turnout was that high. Local elections with closely contested  

races usually bring people out to the polls, but last Tuesday was  

even better than average.

    Local voters re-elected Greg Rankin to the position of County Judge-

Executive. He will lead a fiscal court that has changed somewhat, as  

two incumbents were defeated in last week's election. Magistrates for  

the next term will include: Ronnie Turner, District One; Jeffrey  Dishman, District Two; Dale Vaughn, District Three; and Troy Neal,  

District Four.

    Monticello elected a new mayor, Jeffrey Edwards. He will lead a council that also includes some new faces. Three incumbents—Alvin  Sexton, Phillip Duncan and Joe Gibson—were re-elected to the council.  

Newcomers include Martin Breeding, Charley Peters and Allan Hopper.

    As a whole, Election Day went pretty smoothly in Wayne County, according to Gregory. There were a couple of machine problems,  

including one at the Cooper precinct that would not work. Gregory  said that another machine was taken out to replace it and that solved  

the problem.

    There were also a couple of incidents where voting machines started 

smoking, but election officials were able to work around these  

problems as well. Gregory said she had talked with some of the  

machine technicians who said these were minor issues that were  

related to some parts that need to be replaced.

    There was also an accident at the Barrier precinct late in the day, 

where a car actually hit the voting house. No one was injured at the  

precinct, Gregory noted, though there was some property damage.

    As of press time, there had been no requests for a recanvass, 

although no local races were close enough to indicate a recanvass.

    Voting books, which have been closed for several weeks, reopened 

Monday. That means voters can change their registration or new voters  

can register.

    In 2011, state races will be on the ballot including the race for 

Governor.

    Complete election results from last week's local races can be found 

in the recapitulation sheet that is included in this week's edition.