LITTLE ROCK — Voters will go to the polls today in North Little Rock and southwestern Pulaski County - as well as other places around the state - to decide election runoffs.
Voting hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Registered voters are eligible to vote in the runoffs even if they didn’t cast a ballot in the Nov. 6 general election.
Three days of early voting in Pulaski County ended Monday with 4,706 ballots cast.
In North Little Rock, voters will choose a new mayor and decide an alderman’s race in the city’s Ward 3. Mayor Patrick Hays didn’t seek re-election after serving six terms.
Joe Smith, North Little Rock’s commerce and governmental affairs director, and state Rep. Tracy Steele are in the mayoral runoff.
Steele, 49, led a four-man race in the Nov. 6 general election with 11,524 votes, and Smith, 61, came in second with 9,827 votes, according to certified results.
“My central theme throughout this campaign is: I will be a mayor for all neighborhoods and all people,” said Steele, who has also served in the state Senate. “That’s one statement that has resonated more than any other thing in the campaign.”
Smith has campaigned on his 22 years with the city in a top management role.
“I think the obvious difference between us is that I’ve got 22 years of management experience in municipal government, and he has no experience in management,” Smith said, referring to Steele.
“I reiterate what he said [at a candidate forum] that he didn’t need to be a manager, he was going to hire one to manage the city. We’re not that form of government, and we don’t need a figurehead mayor.”
At an October candidates’ forum, Steele said that a mayor “can hire a manager” but voters “choose a leader.”
Alderman Bruce Foutch, 59, and North Little Rock School Board member Darrell Montgomery, 45, are in the Ward 3 runoff for North Little Rock alderman.
Foutch, who won a special election for the City Council seat in March 2011, led the general election’s three-man race with 1,906 votes to 1,575 for Montgomery.
It’s the sixth consecutive general or special election in North Little Rock’s Ward 3 that has gone to a runoff. In three of the previous runoffs involving an incumbent, the challenger has won.
There are three runoffs in Alexander in Saline County, which has about 80 registered voters within Pulaski County.
Michelle Doss-Kidd and Shelley Maynard are in the runoff for Alexander recorder.
For Alexander City Council positions, voters will choose between Stephanie Beck and Brad Scott in the runoff for Ward 2, Position 1, and between Robin-Altman and Lonny Chapman for Ward 4, Position 2 alderman.
Two races will also be decided today in Pine Bluff.
Lloyd Holcomb Jr. is facing off against Alfred Carroll for the Ward 1 alderman seat, and Greg Gustek and Janice Roberts will vie for the treasurer’s position.
In the general election, Holcomb led the Ward 1 race with 1,683 votes to Carroll’s 1,298 votes, according to certified results.
In the Pine Bluff treasurer race, certified results in the general election put Roberts at 7,150 votes and Gustek at 5,189.
Holcomb, 36, is the pastor of the Barraque Street Missionary Baptist Church and is also a licensed funeral director. If elected, he will replace his mother, Irene Holcomb, who has held the Ward 1 alderman position for the past 23 years. He has never held public office.
“I am feeling really good right now,” Lloyd Holcomb said late Monday afternoon. “Most of all, I want people to come out and exercise their right to vote. And if they choose me, I am ready to serve them.”
Holcomb said his mother has coached him throughout the campaign, describing the “ups and downs and ins and outs” of politics.
“She is making sure that I am focused, giving me the right direction,” Holcomb said. “Most of all, she wants me to do the best job I can for the city of Pine Bluff.”
Carroll, 54, said Irene Holcomb’s legacy is his opponent’s trump card.
“It’s definitely an uphill battle ... running against the legacy of Irene Holcomb,” Carroll said.
“But I am cautiously optimistic, and I know we can pull this thing out. I have been talking to people, and they want experience. That’s something I can bring to the table. We are hoping those positive comments transition into the ballot box.”
Carroll has served on the Jefferson County Quorum Court for 14 years and is the current principal at Southwood Elementary School in the Pine Bluff School District. His justice of the peace seat expires Dec. 31.
In the city treasurer’s race, Roberts, 52, served on the Pine Bluff City Council from 2004-2011. She is a program director with the Arkansas Department of Workforce Development.
Gustek, 58, served in the treasurer’s position from 1998-2008 and is the director of the Pine Bluff Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is also the executive director of the Pine Bluff Festival Association.
Other races around the state being decided in runoffs today include county judge contests in Cross and Drew counties, and alderman seats in more than 30 other cities.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/27/2012