Staff photo
Unofficial early and absentee votes are in, and Sonia Gutierrez and Teresa Turk lead their respective races in the Fayetteville City Council runoff elections.
According to unofficial early and absentee totals, Sonia Gutierrez received 232 (68%) and Olivia Trimble received 108 (32%) in Ward 1.
In Ward 4, Turk leads with 348 votes (68%), and La Tour received 166 (32%).
The runoff comes four weeks after the Nov. 6 general election when Gutierrez received 2,303 votes (41%), while Trimble took 2,220 votes (39%) in Ward 1. A third candidate, Kris Paxton, received 1,132 votes (20%). Turk received 2,909 votes (45%) on election day to 2,811 votes (44%) for La Tour. A third candidate, Adam Fire Cat, received 677 votes (11%).
In Arkansas, a candidate must win a 50 percent majority of the votes or receive more than 40 percent and be ahead of the runner-up by 20 percent to avoid a runoff.
Jennifer Price, the county’s election coordinator, said the final results are expected to be counted and released soon.
In other local races, Matt Francis leads Alissa Noel 8-4 in the race for Elkins City Council Ward 1, and Cathy Oliver leads Zeb Rone 49-28 in the Goshen Mayoral runoff.
