There is an update to the City of Streetman Council Election Results following some confusion.
Initial unofficial results showed that Barbara Polk received 47 votes for the position of Mayor. As she ran unopposed, she remains the winner of that contest.
As for the two commissioner positions, this is where the confusion lays.
Streetman council members are referred to as the Board of Commissioners. There are two seats that are considered ‘at large,’ meaning that all candidates run against one another and the two candidates with the highest votes will occupy those spots.
Unofficial results listed the three candidates and their votes as Krysta Buss – 49; Belinda Owen – 36; and Subrenna Turner – 28; indicating that Buss and Owen would be taking those two places.
However, following a recount of votes, the official results now show that Owen earned 38 votes, Turner garnered 31 votes, and Buss attained 30 votes.
According to Renee McBay, Freestone County Election Administrator, this was the first time that the County has run an election for the City of Streetman.
“This was something new for me, and for the new secretary at the City of Streetman,” McBay says. “Neither of us knew that Streetman is an At Large city.”
Because of this, the data was entered into the digital ballot system as Place One – Subrenna Turner, and Place Two – Belinda Owen or Krysta Buss.
“Once we realized the mistake,” says McBay, “it was too late to update the digital ballots, so we had paper ballots printed for citizens.”
As this was also the first time for McBay to manually enter paper ballot tallies, an error occurred in reporting for City of Streetman, which wasn’t caught until the votes were recounted by election officials.
This matter was addressed at Streetman’s City Council Meeting held last week and Polk, Owen, and Turner have subsequently been sworn into their new leadership roles.
McBay says that another recount can be performed at the request, and cost, of a candidate, but Buss declined to pursue the matter.
