RESULTS IN appeals court races.
Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Potter Barrett led the returns Tuesday night for a bitterly contested race for Position 2 in District 4 on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Behind Barrett trailed District Judge Emily White, who survived an earlier lawsuit from Barrett’s team seeking to remove her from the ballot.
With 430 of 495 precincts reporting, the unofficial returns were:
Barrett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,555 White ................ 31,342
The other Court of Appeals race decided on Tuesday was a rematch of the 2016 campaign between Judge Mark Klappenbach and James McMenis in the court’s District 5. Klappenbach won that 2016 election by about 13 percentage points.
On Tuesday, running with benefit of “Court of Appeals Judge” appearing before his name, Klappenbach apparently increased his support.
With 186 of 246 precincts reporting, the unofficial results in that race were: Klappenbach . . . . . . . . . 19,884
McMenis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,630
The 13-county region that comprises District 5 covers much of south Arkansas from the Mississippi border to the Red River.
Klappenbach, who is from Fordyce, won every county reporting results in the district.
In District 4, a sprawling 15-county area of western Arkansas, Barrett led in Sebastian, Sevier, Polk, Garland, Miller, Montgomery, Howard and Little River counties. White was ahead in
Scott, Logan, Clark, Pike and Hot Spring counties. Hempstead County and Yell had no results late Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
During the race, White faced a lawsuit filed by Barrett’s campaign, which accused her of falsely claiming to live in the district.
White — who was named in the lawsuit under her married name, Lengefeld — lived with her family in Poyen in Grant County, until buying a house along the Ouachita River near Malvern last year.
White subsequently changed her voter address to Hot Spring County — within the district — white Barrett charged that White and her family continued to spend most of their time at the house in Grant County, outside the district.
While Barrett’s lawsuit was unsuccessful in kicking White off the ballot, the Arkansas Supreme Court did agree that White could not appear on the ballot with the title “judge” because she had been appointed, not elected, to that position.
Barrett said Tuesday night that she would refrain from commenting until all the votes were counted.
The winners will begin their eight-year terms on the Court of Appeals in January.