Computer issues have affected the Craighead County Judge's race. An 88 vote discrepancy between the paper ballots that are filed every time a person votes and the computer tabulating software has made the Craighead County Judge's race too close to call. That is because there is a 39 vote difference between the Republican candidates. Unofficially, Jeff Presley has 5,447 votes and Garry Meadows has 5,408 votes. Election Commissioners also say there were 16 provisional ballots that are not counted for. An error with one of the flash cards is being blamed for the error. The Craighead County Election Commission will meet Wednesday to run the numbers again and will contact the computer software company. That is the only race that will be affected by the discrepancy. In other race results, Wes Eddington defeated Andrew Stricklin 6,256 to 4,194. Eddington will face Democrat incumbent Marsha Phillips in November. For Justice of the Peace District 11, Dan Passmore goes to the November election by defeating Timothy Simmons 734 to 272. Passmore will face Democrat Bob Blakenship in November. For State District Court District 19 Division 1, David Boling defeats Judge Keith Blackman 9,137 to 8,029. For Division 2, Tommy Fowler defeats Scott Wilhite 9,259 to 7,510. The Craighead County Election Commission will try to resolve the issue Wednesday morning.
Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.