Staff Report / The Demopolis Times

The Democrats in Hale County made their voices heard in the June 6 primary. The numbers weren’t even close – the County’s Democrats accounted for 98 percent of the voter turnout for the county.

By the numbers, the Democrats had 6,531 of the 6,648 total voters that turned out to make their voice heard, leaving 108 Republicans to mark the ballot.

Lucy Baxley carried Hale County, taking 64 percent of the vote (3,951), nearly doubling that of former Governor Don Siegleman’s tally of only 2,047, (33 percent).

The closest race of the night, however, was in the Sheriff’s race.

Ken Robertson took home the victory with 2,392 votes, 37 percent of the tallies.

Kenneth Ellis and Claude Earl Hamilton had only a handful of votes – 94 to be exact – separate them. Ellis took home the narrow victory with 1,442 votes but that was not enough to distance himself from Hamilton’s tally of 1,348.

Willie J. Hudson finished third in the standings with 1,201 votes (18 percent.)

In most counties, the coroner’s slot is uncontested, however in Hale County, the event will be going to a runoff in the July 18 election.

Howard (June) Paige posted 2,903 votes, only nine percent more than the opponent, James E. Grogan’s mark of 2,363 votes (38 percent.)

For the State Democratic Executive committee, Phillip White dominated the voting with 4,100 votes, 3,000 more than his opponent, Sherman Norfleet’s tally of 1,100.

Jerri M. Coleman and Milliarstine Coleman are headed to the July 18 runoff election wth 22 and 20 percent of the votes, respectively in the Democratic Executive Committee’s District No. 2 female representative.

Valada Paige-Banks and Patricia A. Gooden are in the same boat, with 21 and 19 percent of the votes.

Charlsey “Tot” Tubbs defeated Andretta Skipper by nearly 200 votes in the District 4 election.

For the District 2 election (male), Charles C. Hall took the lead with 670 votes, and Ronald (Ron) Higginbotham won 239 votes, Roosevelt “Poro” Johnson won 239 votes, Elijah Knox came in with 504 votes, Kenneth McCruter received 288 votes and William Winn came in with 565 votes.

Candidate Joe Lee Hamilton Jr., running in the District 3 election, won with 864 votes, defeating opponents Robert “Bobby” Hall Jr., Joe Hamilton Jr., Bill Kyser, Townsend Kyser, III., Eugene Lyles, Samuel H. Rugg, Robert White and Frank A. Wilkerson.

For the District 4 election (female), M.W. “Doc” Adams received 710 votes, James R. Crawford won 684 votes, David Parker came in with 648 votes, S.M. (Simon) Rhone won 466 votes, Robert Sheppard received 495 votes and George B. Stewart came in with 595 votes.