FRIDAY
The Webster county clerk petitioned a judge to determine whether a runoff election would best settle the race for southern district county commissioner.
The election for southern commissioner was won by just four votes.
Some Marshfield voters ended up with the wrong ballot and therefore cast their votes in an election they weren't actually eligible to vote in.
Since the commissioner race was so close officials say the mistake could have impacted the results.
Just four votes separated two of the three republicans running for Webster County Southern Commissioner in Tuesday's primary.
Sharon Young's husband Denzil, the incumbent, lost by that minuscule margin to Fordland's Jamie Ayers.
“I’m glad he's still in the race because i really feel like he would do the best job,” Young explains.
That’s right- Denzil's time on the campaign trail has been prolonged, and a small-scale ballot blunder is to blame.
“It looks like there were more southern ballots cast than voters who appeared at that precinct that day;” approximately ten more from Marshfield residents.
County Clerk Stan Whitehurst explains it this way: the county is divided into northern and southern districts by township; most voting precincts serve just one township.
This is where things get confusing so get your compass out.
Highway A runs in between two townships.
On the east side of the road there’s East Ozark, and on the west side of the road there’s, you guessed it, West Ozark.
They both vote at the same polling place, but they don't vote for the same commissioners.
West Ozark is considered in the southern portion of the county while East Ozark is in the north.
The first few voters who came to the Marshfield Christian Church on Tuesday morning were all handed southern ballots, regardless of their township.
“In a normal circumstance we're dealing with a very small number and it wouldn't be an issue but since we have such a close race even the small things are very important now,” Whitehurst says.
But just how important is up to a judge..
“It could be from the scale of no action to some type of runoff."
Sharon's banking on the latter.
She says, “I think we just need to move forward."
Forward but back, she hopes, to her husband who holds the job now.
We tried to talk with Jamie Ayers who is officially the southern commissioner at this time, but he refused.
The clerk hopes the issue will be resolved by the end of the month.
Another close county commissioner race happened in Dallas County.
Rex Barclay defeated Tim Brownfield by 12 votes.
The county clerk says there were 1,200 votes cast, making the difference exactly 1%.
State law calls for a recount if the difference is less than 1%.
Brownfield has not requested one, so the clerk says there won’t be one.