Andrew Powell said he had known the election for the Ward 5 seat on the Greenwood City Council would go down to the wire, and he was right.
On Tuesday, Powell won a special election by one vote — 112-111 — over fellow Democrat Norman Smith, who died Nov. 19. One write-in vote also was cast.
The Greenwood Election Commission certified the results Tuesday night.
Mayor Carolyn McAdams said the state Attorney General’s Office had told her that votes for Smith would not be counted. However, Powell said he was relying on the vote totals for vindication in his 18-month campaign to unseat Dot Glenn.
Powell, 63, was nervous when he arrived at the Leflore County Courthouse Tuesday night to see he had an eight-vote lead with 47 absentee, 35 affidavit and 15 curbside votes yet to be counted.
Last year, after Glenn won the race to represent Ward 5, Powell filed a lawsuit contesting her claim that she lived in the ward. In October of this year, the state Supreme Court ordered Glenn to vacate the seat she had held since July 2013, affirming an earlier order by a tribunal.
Glenn and several of her supporters appeared at the courthouse during the tabulation of votes Tuesday night.
Powell, flanked by his supporters, said he’ll be ready if someone tries to challenge Tuesday’s results.
Representing Ward 5 will require hard work, he said.
“I’ll have to hit the ground running,” he said.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
