Early voting in runoff starts Tuesday

Early voting begins Tuesday in a runoff election to determine who will be the next Justice of the Peace for District 10.

Kendall Owens and Victor Stegall emerged from a three-way race for the position in the May primary to replace retiring Justice Leodis Williams.

In the primary, Owens received 48 votes, with candidates Stegall and Arthur Witherspoon each receiving 30 votes. The tie was broken after a provisional ballot, for which a voter failed to originally show identification, was counted, giving Stegall a spot in the runoff.

Early voting will begin at 8 a.m., Tuesday, at the St. Francis County Courthouse and continue until 4:30 p.m., each day through Friday. Early voting will not be held on

Monday, June 20, due to the courthouse being closed for the Juneteenth holiday.

On election day, June 21, three polling sites will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Those sites will be set up in Ward 1 at Lane Chapel Church on Scott Street, in Ward 2 at Salem Baptist Church on West Broadway, and at the Forrest City Civic Center for Forrest City Country West voters.

St. Francis County Election Commissioner Chris Oswalt said about 400 registered voters are eligible to cast ballots in the runoff, although only 109 voted in that race during the primary.

A map outlining the District 10 area is printed on Page 6 of today’s

Times-Herald. The map can also be found on the election commission’s Facebook page, Oswalt said.

“I want everyone to understand that just because they live in Ward 1 or Ward 2 does not necessarily mean they will be able to vote in this race,” said Oswalt.

Residents of the district who did not vote in the May primary are eligible to vote in the runoff, according to Oswalt. However, those who live in the district and cast Republican ballots in the primary are not eligible to vote in this runoff.

According to Oswalt, the runoff is costing the county about $5,000, including the costs for poll workers and election materials.

“We’ve tried to cut back as much as possible because this is such a small election. We’re going to have the minimum four workers at each polling site,” said Oswalt.

On election day, polling sites will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., with results being announced that night at the courthouse.