Monday, November 14, 2016

Independents Make Their Mark in County Races

As you may know, I am with Neighbors of Arkansas, an outfit which encourages decentralization and diversification in government. Specifically, we encourage citizens to go around the terminally corrupt two party system which has mismanaged this nation into fiscal and moral bankruptcy. One way they can do this is to run for office as something besides a Republican or a Democrat. We like the independent route because then it is clear they owe their offices to the folks back home, and not a party label managed from Washington D.C.

Going down the list of the election results, we noticed that quite a few independents either won or did well in their races. I went to the Secretary of State's website and made a quick list. I am sure that I missed some. I do not count races for city offices, or for constable, but only for paid positions in public office.

Here is the list of those candidates. If they got 25% or less of the vote I did not include them. If they lost, I put the vote percentage. If they are in a runoff I put an "RO" beside their vote percentage.

First Name Last Name County Office Sought Won/Lost
Beth Rush Ashley Assessor w
Sue  Croswell Gwin Ashley Assessor L 44
David "Keith"  Medders Ashley Coroner L 41
Corliss MCCain Ashley JP 1 W
Glenn Latham Benton Sheriff L 28
Mark Steven Fowler Boone JP 3 L 36
Bobby  Woods Boone JP 6 W
Tom Calhoon Clark JP 6 W
Ricky Arnold Clark JP 11 RO 35
Larry Goff Cleburne JP 11 W
Ken  Stacks Craighead JP 1 W
Barbara Weinstock Craighead JP 5 W
Connie Beyerle Crawford Assessor L 31
Elaine  Stanfield  Crawford JP 10 L 30
Butch  Barnes Crawford JP 13 W
Hess Michael Cross JP 6 L 37
Jerald Clarke Drew Sheriff L 36
Jim Kendrick Fulton County Judge L 48
Lynn Guffy Fulton JP 2  RO 44
Billie J. Gibson Fulton JP 7 RO 36
Clay Herrmann Garland County Judge L 30
Cash Mike Hot Spring County Sheriff RO 21
Damon Dyer Hot Spring JP 6 L 33
James Elbert Izard JP 9 L 43
Mike Rowe Lafayette County Judge W
William "Bill" Powell Lawrence JP 1 W
Debbie Anhalt Logan JP 6 W
Bob  Krepps Logan JP 7 W
Gerald Hodgson Logan JP 9 W
Jim St. Clair Madison JP 9 L 35
Michael Scrima Marion JP 1 W
Jerry L.  Mitchell Monroe JP 8 L 44
Harl Bohannon Newton County Judge L 31
John D.  Phillips Newton JP 9 W
Russell Weaver Perry JP 3 L 44
Barbara Whiteley Scott Circuit Clerk W
Randy Shores Scott Sheriff/Collector RO 35
Bill  Bates Scott JP 2 W
Alvin Carnarhan Scott JP 5 L 43
Tommy Roberson Scott JP 6 RO 39
Gene Moore Sharp County Judge RO 27
Tommy Estes Sharp Circuit Clerk W
Darrell Kehrli Sharp JP 2 L 44
Jimmy Qualls Stone JP 5 L 45
Kenneth R.  Horton White JP 7 W

Again this does not count city races, where they are all independents in almost all Arkansas cities. Nor does it count constables, or people who did not get a quarter or more of the vote (though I missed a few). I probably also missed a few because they were elected without opposition and so their totals did not show up- they were just grouped with those who automatically won. 

Of course the two party system, and its mostly the Republicans now in this state, are pushing back. They have been altering state law to make it harder to run as an independent for some time now. In fact, Neighbors of Arkansas is currently suing the state to try and roll back one of those laws. It is shameful the way the Republicans in this state are acting on the issue of ballot access for independents. It was not too long ago that they were on the outside looking in. Now that they are on top, they want to pull the ladder up after them so that people have to keep voting for Republicans and Democrats no matter how badly we feel they are doing at running our nation. If you want to help us fight back, go to the Neighbor's website and click the "Join Us" button!

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2:18 AM, December 06, 2016  

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