Carroll to remain in Position Five
Siloam Springs citizens voted to keep Director Reid Carroll as the Position Five city director on Aug. 11, while Directors Carol Smiley and Bob Coleman will face Nathanael Stone and David Allen, respectively, for the Position Six and Position Seven director’s spots.
If no candidate receives the majority of votes cast in the primary, the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be the nominees for the respective offices to be voted upon at the Nov. 3 election, according to a post on the city’s website. The majority of the votes is factored as a percentage of 50 plus one vote, according to City Clerk Renea Ellis.
Carroll received 494 votes, 52.44 percent of the vote, negating the need for a run-off election for Position Five, according to vote. bentoncountyar.gov. Fellow candidates James Walls received 151 votes and 16.03 percent of the vote and Kevin Williams received 297 votes and 31.53 percent of the vote.
“I feel a sense of relief knowing I did not have to go through another election,” Carroll said.
The city director said he was pleased with the turnout,
although he said he would like to see more people take an interest and come out and vote.
“It gives us more information of who people would like to see in office,” Carroll said.
Smiley received 459 votes and 47.81 percent of the vote and Coleman received 427 votes and 45.28 percent of the vote, the website states. Since neither candidate received the majority needed, they will have to face-off against the opponent who had the second highest number of votes.
For Smiley her opponent will be Stone. Stone received 297 votes and 30.94 percent of the vote. Smiley’s other opponent Bob Hollaway received 204 votes and 21.25 percent of the vote.
“I’m very happy with the results,” Smiley said. “I was hoping that I would receive the 50 plus one vote, but I am ready to go on to the general election.”
Smiley thanked her campaign team for all of their hard work and is looking forward to continuing her campaign. She also thanked the citizens who came out and voted for her and congratulated Stone on receiving the second highest number of votes.
Stone was also pleased with the turnout. Stone said Smiley has a lot of followers so he was pleased to receive the number of votes he did without Smiley’s momentum.
“At this point I’m pretty hopeful,” Stone said. “We’ll see what happens in November.”
Coleman will face off against Allen, who received 318 votes and 33.72 percent of the vote. The other candidates for Position Seven were Frank Johnson, who received 141 votes and 14.95 percent of the vote and Michael Henry, who received 57 votes and 6.04 percent of the vote.
Coleman was surprised by the results.
“I guess the voters spoke and they have some decisions to make (in November),” Coleman said. “In the meantime we’ll just keep going on.”
Allen said he is grateful for the support he has received.
“I am thankful to my fellow citizens for trusting me to work for our beloved city’s future,” Allen said. “I look forward to explaining the differences between me and my opponent between now and Nov. 2.”