Billy Woods was reelected as Marion County Sheriff in a landslide vote, and incumbent commissioner Craig Curry earned over 20% more votes than his challenger during Tuesday night’s election.
The Primary Election results for Marion County were published online by the Marion County Supervisor of Elections on Tuesday night from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
With 106 precincts reporting, Sheriff Woods earned nearly triple the votes than his opponent, Milton Simmons Busby, Jr. Woods generated 44,763 votes to Busby Jr.’s 14,620 votes.
Commissioner Curry beat his challenger, Sarah Almeida Dennis, by a comfortable margin as well, earning approximately 33,589 votes. That was good for 60.35% of the vote to Dennis’s 39.65%, which equated to just over 22,000 votes.
Mail-in votes and early votes, which were tallied first, showed a clear advantage for both incumbents, with Woods gathering 22,457 votes and Busby, Jr. generating 8,168 votes. Early votes and votes by mail also favored incumbent Curry, with the commissioner earning 16,451 to Dennis’s 12,226 votes.
Matt McClain beat out challenger David Blackwell for District 3, with McClain earning over 26,778 votes (75.88%) to Blackwell’s 8,512 (24.12%).
One race that came down to the wire was that of Marion County School Board District 1. In that race, Allison B. Campbell eked out a victory over former school board member Beth McCall, who relinquished her seat after it was discovered she moved out of the district that she was representing. Campbell garnered 29,836 votes (52.71%) to McCall’s 26,770 votes (47.29%).
There were three races that determined seats in Reddick, including the mayor’s office. Those races were all determined by under 100 votes.
Approximately 61,034 ballots were cast during Tuesday’s election. According to the Marion County Supervisor of Elections, there are 129,020 registered Republicans and 68,499 registered Democrats in Marion County. Approximately 60,208 residents have different or no party affiliations. That means voter turnout was 61,034 out of 257,727, or 23.68%.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Election results were provided by the Marion County Supervisor of Elections’ Office. As of 9 p.m. on Tuesday, August 20, votes from 106 out of 106 precincts had been tallied.