The next four years
June 2, 2009 by SNEditor
Filed under Election '09, Happening Now
The long election season is over. I have to say this was one of the best in recent memory.
One of the things that pleased me most was the involvement of the under 45 crowd in running and campaigning. Starkville has made a change from from the “bald-headed old men” crowd (as one poster put it) to a new group of leaders.
Mayor Parker Wiseman
Aldermen
Ward 1 Ben Carver (R)
Ward 2 Sandra Sistrunk (D)
Ward 3 Richard Corey (D -I)
Ward 4 Eric Parker (R)
Ward 5 Jeremiah Dumas (D)
Ward 6 Roy Perkins (D -I)
Ward 7 Henry Vaughn
A few quick observations.
I would say Sunday sales is a slam dunk. I count 4 yeas with a “no veto” from Wiseman.
Sandra Sistrunk ran a heck of a campaign against Rodney Lincoln.
The Republican’s gained 2 seats but lost an incumbent. Any life in the local party left?
The Democratic party/Wiseman campaign built a heck of a machine.
Thanks to all who followed via Twitter and SN.com.
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So exciting. Let’s join this century and get some alcohol on Sunday…thus better options for restaurants. Of course, that is only the beginning!
Its not just about Sunday Sales. Lets get the by-pass frigggin developed. That tax base will give us the ability to do whatever the hell we want. DO IT PARKER.
Robbie,
Who are your four “slam dunk” votes on Sunday sales? Sistrunk, Corey and Dumas are three. Carver has reportedly said absolutely not, Eric Parker will get pressure from his church, 1st Baptist, and I haven’t heard that either Perkins or Vaughn will support it. Who’s the fourth vote?
Two great things have already come out of this election. One, we have new ways to get out local news up-to-the-minute and in a format where we can actually join in the conversation. That is awesome.
And two, several new community leaders have stepped up to the plate, some who will now serve in office, and others who hopefully will continue to speak up and make sure every voice is heard as we move forward.
I don’t know that Sunday Sales will be the first item on the agenda, but let’s keep it in perspective. We are only talking about service in restaurants during a specified number of hours. We should change the name to 7 Day Restaurant Service. If this ban is overturned, it would be a victory for economic development and huge for tourism. That seems pretty moral and ethical to me. I’ll leave it at that, as this will certainly be a topic for another day.
Thank you SNEditor for bringing us the news and helping to get everyone engaged in the process!
You’re right. Three yeas and 1 maybe. The effects of too much twitter.
Politically, early vote on alcohol would be better. How many folks used cold beer against the last round of candidates? Sunday sale passage now will be forgotten in three years.
You need look no further than Columbus. They’ve had Sunday sales for years and I’m betting the police department responds to very few calls on Sunday. It would be very easy to verify and would be a concrete bit of info to use in the debate versus some of the crazy stuff we’re hearing now…reduced tithing???? Give me a break!
SNEditor, I’m not heavily entrenched in the political process but I didn’t see the Democrats in this election running a party centric campaign at all (However, the Wiseman machine was impressive). In the closing weeks we did see the Republicans try and close ranks a bit and I don’t think that helped them. On a local level party politics mean very little. Anyone who pushed a button for either a Republican or Democratic candidate because of the letter by their name had no business voting yesterday. I wish we would abolish the party system for municipal elections it only muddies the water.
I am slightly confused… I thought when there are three or more candidates in an election, that one candidate must receive a majority of the votes cast, i.e. 50% + 1 vote.
The announcement of Ben Carver as the winner does not fit that. He is close, but not a majority of the votes. The reported votes cast are: Ward 1 Bagwell 299 Carver 390 eaves 109. That totals to 798 votes - 50% = 399 + 1 = 400 votes required to win the seat, right?
In the general election, it’s winner take all. Most votes wins. Doesn’t have to be 50% + 1. I believe the SDN sent out the posibility of a runoff in their Twitter feed last night. That was wrong.
I am interested to know what happened to all the “democrats” in Ward 1. There were 665 votes in that primary run-off. 330 for Corey Bagwell and 315 for Mark Duncan. In the general election, Corey only gets 299 and Ben Carver gets 390. I think this supports Jim’s point that party affiliation in local elections is a joke. How did we go from 665 democrats to 299? This seems pretty close to proof that the republicans and/or independents voted in the democratic primary run-off. Why? To elect the weaker democrat? Is that really good for our city? Is that really democracy? Is that even fair? We’ve got big questions to answer. There should just be one election with everyone’s name on the ballot. If a run-off is necessary after that - so be it. But don’t ask people to come out and vote 3 times in a 4 week period.
I totally agree Kate. We should vote for the best candidates, not just whoever is left when the smoke clears. I realize that in theory the primaries should accomplish this anyway, but when republicans vote in the democratic primary to elect the weaker opponent (using your example), it ruins the system. I vote for one ballot, no parties.
Exciting election though. Now what are we going to talk about?
I really want to discuss ceecee’s “Lets get the by-pass frigggin developed” comment, but I am way too tired right now.
Kate, excellent points bringing this up. I am one of the “Democrats” in Ward 1 who has voted not once but thrice for the local elections this year (two primaries and the general). I voted for Duncan in the latest primary, but could not support voting for Bagwell in the general election because of his poor campaign, specifically his not turning in financial forms on time. Perhaps there were other voters like me?
I agree with everyone that there should not be a party system in the local elections in Starkville. I’m assuming that this could be changed? Maybe this should be a first issue, rather than the Sunday alcohol sales (which I also support).
I’m pro-development but I’m not sure that developing the bypass should be the first priority. Just my opinion but I believe there should be emphasis on the redevelopment of the 182 and other areas in town prior to pushing things to the periphery.
Don’t get me wrong, development on the bypass is not a bad thing but it needs to be well-planned and controlled. And most importantly, development of the bypass should not pull exisiting businesses out of current location. Unfortunately, new development along bypasses often leaves buildings vacant in the city center. Wal-Mart serves as a great example of this. It should also be kept in mind that the bypass was constructed to route traffic around the city, not necessarily to serve as a new source of development. If development occurs, it’s a great benefit but it’s an issue that must handled carefully.
Martha,
To set the record straight about Mr. Bagwell’s financial report (which seems to be a real problem for you and Kate)…Mrs. Outlaw’s office did not provide him with the correct date for having this turned in (this would be a fact, not an excuse). I believe the report was made public on a Thursday (which is when he was informed he had not turned it in) and he immediately took care of that. As for his “poor campaign”…well, he didn’t have young Parker’s financial machine backing him like other candidates did (please feel free to bash me for that…I see it coming!). I admire Mr. Bagwell for putting his limited funds, time and energy into running a very decent campaign. He truly has Starkville’s best interest at heart, but I suppose that if you don’t bully and harrass your way into and through a campaign, your efforts don’t count, right?
Martha,
I think that was exactly the point. I think a lot of the voters that showed up and voted in the alderman primary were from a different party. Kudos to the twenty people that voted for the mayor and did not vote in the alderman’s race. At least they were honest. Ben Carver told me he voted for Mark! WHY? That shouldn’t even be allowed. He is the republican candidate voting in a democratic primary run-off!!!
Amazed,
First, I don’t think anyone is interested in bashing Corey Bagwell. He is a nice man but that doesn’t translate to a good alderman. Second, it wasn’t a question of money but of content. I got two push cards from Mr. Bagwell. Both of which just asked for my support but didn’t have a single comment about qualifications or platform. Third, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Though the candidates turn the report in to Mrs. Outlaw, the form and due date are set by the state. It is there Mr. Bagwell should have gotten his information. Finally, this is simply a conversation about a broken system. I am not interested in bashing any of the candidates or the new aldermen but the fact remains that the system itself is broken. It is a conversation that must be had for the health of our city and democracy. Come on Amazed, would you have us just all bury our head in the sand and pretend it didn’t happen? Are you really willing to say that the 645 people that voted in the democratic primary run-off were really all democrats and that 346 of these just decided they didn’t like Corey so they voted for Ben or Helen. That to me seems like a worse comment to make about Mr. Bagwell. Let’s try and work together so we have a better system where the best candidate can win fairly.
Kate,
You’re the one that keeps bringing up Corey’s financial report…not me. I will have to agree with you about our heads being buried in the sand - the next four years should prove to be very interesting.
Whoops! I am the one who brought up the financial report this time. Thanks for your response, Amazed, as I had not heard anything concerning why it was late or if it had been turned in after the fact.
Kate, excellent summary about Bagwell and the need for a better system. I meant not to bash Bagwell in my comment, but rather explain why someone (this someone in particular) who voted in the Democratic primaries did not vote for him in the general election.
Does anyone have the mayoral votes broken out by ward? If so, are you willing to share?
Thanks!
I found the mayoral votes broken out by ward. There is some odd stuff there. It would appear that 7% of the people that showed up in ward 3 to vote, decided not to vote for mayor… what? I mean - there were two things to vote for… how do you just miss the first thing on the ballot. Now, I am not great at math - but seems like simple addition and then a little division. Anyway, could we get some investigative journalism going on something interesting like this? Perhaps that 7% are all write-in votes or maybe something is wrong with our voting machines. Let’s check it out!
Bethany, do you have time to share the numbers for each ward? I’m curious as well. I see several potential stories to investigate here.
I know you might feel awkward about asking someone to dig a little deeper into the Ward 1 races Primary-Runoff-General but I don’t. I understand there might be some voter fatigue that kept the hardline Dems away from the poles. I’m sure some Mark Duncan supporters decided to vote for Ben Carver. But something is still foul in Ward 1. Seems awful hard to have hanging chads in electronic voting but what do I know.
Jim,
Here are the numbers I have. I am making the assumption these are accurately reported. I know there are write-in votes for Ward 1 - and without those being counted, there are 24 more votes for Alderman than mayor.
I am sure there are write-in votes in the other wards as well, maybe that is the 7% in Ward 3 but it sure seems like a big number to me.
As an electrical engineer, I would think you are particularly likely to understand the variety of things that can go wrong with electronic voting machines. However, I do not believe hanging chads is one of them
CITY TOTAL - 3838 total votes
Marnita Henderson(R): 1553 - 40.46%
Parker Wiseman(D): 2285 - 59.54%
Ward 1 - 774 total votes (unofficial)
Marnita Henderson(R): 396 - 51.16%
Parker Wiseman(D): 378 - 48.84%
Ward 2 - 272 total votes (unofficial)
Marnita Henderson(R): 100 - 36.76%
Parker Wiseman(D): 172 - 63.24%
Ward 3 - 1179 total votes (unofficial)
Marnita Henderson(R): 549 - 46.56%
Parker Wiseman(D): 630 - 53.44%
Ward 4 - 199 total votes (unofficial)
Marnita Henderson(R): 36 - 18.09%
Parker Wiseman(D): 163 - 81.91%
Ward 5 - 535 total votes (unofficial)
Marnita Henderson(R): 238 - 44.49%
Parker Wiseman(D): 297 - 55.51%
Ward 6 - 163 total votes (unofficial)
Marnita Henderson(R): 28 - 17.18%
Parker Wiseman(D): 135 - 82.82%
Ward 7 - 321 total votes (unofficial)
Marnita Henderson(R): 49 - 15.26%
Parker Wiseman(D): 272 - 84.74%
I made a C in the EE2479 - Introduction to Electronic Voting Machine Technology. I’m also not very familiar with voter trends and statistics but is it unreasonable that 7% (87 votes) in Ward 3 could simply be Matt Cox or Dan Camp supporters who couldn’t bear to cast a ballot for either Parker or Marnita?
Bethany,
City total is correct. The ward-by-ward numbers are not correct. Those were early numbers and I have not updated them yet. I am waiting on the official Election Summary Report to do that.
-Blake
Thanks to everyone who has kept this thread going. I’m out of town on a business trip and haven’t had time to get certified results. This type of exchange is one of the things I enjoy most about StarkvilleNow.
I’ve talked with a few folks (some posters) about where we go from here. There is an interest in city affairs and moving Starkville forward by a wide group. How do we channel that to keep it rolling? How do we make our thoughts known to the new BOA and mayor? Thoughts?
Post-election reflection
According to the Starkville Daily News, only 3838 of 13,660 registered voters decided the Tuesday’s mayoral election in which Parker Wiseman defeated Marnita Henderson by 732 votes. The SDN data show that Henderson received 40.46% of the vote, and that 9822 registered voters stayed home. If one makes the reasonable assumption that the potential Henderson voters amongst the no-shows were also 40.46%, there were 3974 potential Henderson voters who stayed home. I’d guess that at least 20% of them (795) didn’t vote because they thought she didn’t have a chance. If that were the case, their doubt and inaction essentially cost her the election.
The moral of this story: If you believe in a candidate, get out there and vote whether you think the person has a chance or not. The race is not (always) to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, and the race for mayor or alderman doesn’t have to go to the person with the most money and pizzazz.
As for low voter turnout…Has anyone looked at the voting totals from each ward?
Ward 1 774
Ward 2 272
Ward 3 1,179
Ward 4 199
Ward 5 535
Ward 6 163
Ward 7 321
Seems somewhat unbalanced, don’t you think? Perhaps representation on the Board of Aldermen should be based on the “actual voting” population (those who are willing to get involved), and not just the “warm body” numbers according to a census report. That might get the Ward voters inspired to cast their votes in all the Wards. Or is the number of voters in Wards truly that unbalanced???
Eric, well said!!
It’s funny how Tuscaloosa doesn’t have SUNDAY SALES but is still able to have Outback, Lonestar, Buffalo Wild Wings, Hooters just to name a few. So get off the sunday sales crap. That’s not what is holding the city back so shut the **** up already.
DAW - Here some numbers to consider before comparing Starkville and Tuscaloosa in terms of economic development:
Starkville Population = 22,000
Tuscaloosa Population = 77,000
***Numbers as of 2000
Do you really not see the difference here?
Let me add that I personally called several chains such as Buffalo Wild Wings and Outback as part of a project in my Marketing Management class in 2003 to inquire about this very issue. Every single one of them told me they had zero interest in moving into the Starkville area until they could serve alcohol on Sunday. Period. Maybe you should “shut the **** up already.”
Actually, DAW, it is not “funny” at all. It makes perfect sense. Tuscaloosa County has 4 times the population of Oktibbeha County along with an interstate highway. Those restaurants have little trouble surviving in such an economic environment. Starkville is more of a fringe market for places like you mentioned, and Sunday Sales is one reason they stay away.
Of course, I and many others are not interested in the same old restaurants that you can find at most any interstate exit ramp. We are interested in helping the current local businesses do better and in generating more tax dollars for the city. I see Sunday Sales essentially as free money.
If I felt so strongly about Outback, I would just move to some sprawling suburb.
MIADawg,
Good point. It is completely ludicrous to think that the sale of alcohol on sunday will in some way be detrimental to this city. When cold beer was finally allowed a few years ago (which was illegal to prohibit to begin with), did drinking related incidents go up? If they did, I didn’t notice it. Government has no business dictating when I can or cannot buy beer, simple as that. Prohibition was tried in the past, and it didn’t work. If someone has a problem with buying beer on Sunday, then don’t buy it; but don’t tell me I can’t if I choose to!
I heard from Richard Corey that he doesn’t want to take up the Sunday Sales issue so quick as he doesn’t want to give the appearance of railroading the issue through. Eventually, it will come up again, and the thought is it will pass. With four young children on the board and a textbook mayor with no experience, God help us in this crucial time in our development.
Eric,
I’d like to see more people vote as well but it’s likely just as many (likely more) Wiseman supporters didn’t vote because they thought he had it in the bag already. This could also be used to explain the large turn-out in Ward 3 where you had a very close race with no clear front runner, of course Ward 3 always has high turnout. Then again are are ward lines drawn such that you have equal population distribution between the wards. Looking at the map my gut says no.
If you want to get voters to care our elected leaders need to actually do something positive in this town. That’s largely where the apathy comes from. After decades of inept divisive absentee governance many voters have likely concluded that it doesn’t matter who we elect. I have high hopes for our new mayor and board but only time will tell.
Neal Harris,
Do you mind if I call you Doogie? Doogie, who are the four you refer to as Children? Dumas, Sistrunk, Carver, and Parker? All are over the age of 30. Several of them have very impressive credentials and real world experience. Two are actively involved in our Community and continue to work on providing us with wonderful amenities and critical needs, such as The Community Market, a sound accessible transportation infrastructure, community responsive churches, etc. Furthermore, I would rather have a mayor with a great education an no experience than a mayor with no education and no experience (that was the difference between our two choices on tuesday). I think you might be the one who needs to grow up.
Disclaimer: I will freely admit to being immature and I don’t want or intend to grow up myself.
Jim,
I would have sworn that young Parker is 28. Has politics already started aging him??
Jim,
Not that it really matters, but I’m pretty sure Carver is 28 as well.
The Parker I’m referring to is Eric Parker - Ward 3 I believe he is over 30. As for Mr. Carver you may be correct but regardless of my misinformation I don’t think it is appropriate to refer to 28 year olds as children. Mr. Corey is under the age of 30 as well I believe but he not only was the incumbent but also by far the oldest candidate in that race.
The real point is most candidates ran on a platform of change. I’m not sure who Mr. Harris was hoping to see elected but this board and mayor give us a much better chance for positive productive government than most of the alternative choices could have provided. That is change we need.
This age discussion has piqued my interest. I’m pretty sure the new mayor is 28. Can anybody put reliable ages next to the names of our Aldermen?
Mayor Parker Wiseman (28)
Aldermen
Ward 1 Ben Carver
Ward 2 Sandra Sistrunk
Ward 3 Richard Corey
Ward 4 Eric Parker
Ward 5 Jeremiah Dumas
Ward 6 Roy Perkins
Ward 7 Henry Vaughn
Wow, I am way behind on this post.
I think that the Sunday sales issue has been covered. Comparing Starkville to Tuscaloosa is ridiculous. I will be honest, I really do not care that much about the Sunday sales debate…I think that is has been blown waaay out of proportion. However, I really do not understand why people think that it will be absolute chaos if Starkville sells alcohol on Sunday. Maybe if we were the first town to do so, but most cities in the state sell any day of the week. I am originally from Olive Branch, Mississippi. It is a small town (granted it is rapidly growing and part of a larger metro area) that sells every day of the week. It is also a very religious city in the Bible Belt just like Starkville. It is not total chaos and people there think nothing of it. If you want to drink on Sunday your can, but if you don’t, then you don’t have to. It just isn’t a big deal.
Eric,
I agree with Jim’s response to your earlier comment about the voting numbers. I do not think that your “reasonable assumption” is reasonable. I think that it is reasonable to assume that the results still would have produced roughly a 60/40 split even if 100% of the registered voters would have participated. I think a large number of Parker supporters stayed home because they felt that he had it “in the bag,” a large number of Marnita supporters stayed home because they felt that she didn’t have a chance, and a large number of voters stayed home because they just didn’t care or they didn’t like either of the candidates. You argument that Marnita would have won if 733 more people would have voted for her is correct, but that is true in every race. If Lincoln would have had 10 more votes he would have won, if 13 more people would have voted for Gaskin he would have won, and if Mississippi State would have scored 46 points they would have won the Egg Bowl and Croom would probably still be our coach. The fact is that who wanted to vote, voted and 60% of those people felt that Parker was the man for the job. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
I also don’t understand why age matters at this point. If I am right, we have 3 on the board over 50 and the rest are in their 20s or 30s. Really the BoA is half and half.
Jeremy -
Of course my assumption that the no-shows would have voted about the same as those who did vote is reasonable. You agreed with it when you said that it is reasonable to assume that the results would have produced roughly a 60/40 split even if 100% of registered voters had voted. I calculated my numbers using that very assumption. It’s what I do with the numbers that you don’t agree with.
I used the numbers to point out that on June 2 there were plenty enough Henderson supporters out there to have swung the election her way. With the Wiseman vote as it was on that day, it would have taken less than 1/5 of her no-show supporters to upset the favorite by getting off their duffs and voting. I wrote that post to demonstrate with reasonable numbers the potential for an underdog to win a race.
Also, I don’t think it’s odd to want to know the ages of our Mayor and Aldermen. I’d still like to have someone fill in the blanks.