Incumbent Ward 5 Charleston City Commissioner Perry Lee Herron took 58 percent of the vote to win a third consecutive term in a hotly contested court-ordered special election on Tuesday.
He is scheduled to be sworn in on Friday, July 21, at 10 a.m., during a ceremony in the courtroom of Charleston City Hall.
Herron tallied 104 votes (57.78 percent) to top James L. “Honey” Johnson, who recorded 76 votes (42.22 percent), according to complete, official results.
Ten affidavit ballots were considered on Wednesday morning, but none of them were valid so they were not counted, according to Charleston Deputy City Clerk Vanisha Powell, who noted that those voters "either were registered in another ward or were not registered at all."
The 57-year-old Herron had led the 64-year-old Johnson by a count of 55-53 when the dust settled from the May 2 Democratic primary, but Johnson’s camp contested the outcome and took action in Tallahatchie County Circuit Court to have the results tossed on the basis of “several serious irregularities.”
Circuit Judge Jimmy McClure, during a June 29 hearing on the matter, found merit in Johnson’s motion for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief and ordered a revote for the Ward 5 post within 30 days.
Tuesday’s voting, all by paper ballot, took place in the boardroom of the East Tallahatchie School District central office on Chestnut Street. The ballots were counted at the same location on Tuesday night.
About three-dozen people — election officials, campaign workers, family members and others — were present for the vote-counting process.
Charleston City Clerk Ana Ealy stood and, one by one, called out the name of the candidate marked on each ballot — first, the white paper election-day ballots (which Herron won 70-54) and then the 56 orange-tinted paper absentee ballots (Herron held a 34-22 lead among the absentee voters) — while Powell and several others seated at a table kept count on tally sheets. During a second count to double-check, Powell called out votes while Ealy sat for a turn at the tally sheet.
The outcome was announced about one-and-a-half hours after the 7 p.m. closing of the polls.
Approached for comment moments after learning of his win, Herron thanked “family and friends who helped” him and then could not resist an obvious celebratory jab at the opposition: “I could have gone about this in other ways, but I figured a good ol’ country whipping was the best thing for them.”
Johnson left the premises shortly after results were known and was unavailable for comment on election night.
Assuming his re-election stands, Herron will be the only returning member from the Charleston Board of Commissioners’ 2013-17 term. Four other city board incumbents fell to defeat during the Democratic primary in what some have called a well-orchestrated plan to completely revamp the city’s governing body.
Editor's note: This story was updated on Thursday, July 20, to include the outcome of affidavit ballot consideration, final certified election results and Herron's scheduled swearing-in.
