Andrew Powell won the Greenwood City Council Ward 5 special election Tuesday night by the narrowest of margins -- one vote.
Powell defeated Norman Smith, 112 votes to 111. And there was one write-in vote.
Tuesday's special election was largely symbolic since Smith, 76, died of heart failure on Nov. 19. However, the ballots for the special election had already been printed at the time of his death.
If the ballots hadn’t been printed at all, Powell could have taken his seat on the council immediately, Mayor Carolyn McAdams said before the election.
Powell successfully challenged the 2013 election of Dot Glenn to the Ward 5 seat. In June 2013, a judicial tribunal ruled that Glenn did not live in Ward 5 and was ineligible to represent it on the council.
However, Glenn was allowed to serve on the council after a stay was issued while the Mississippi Supreme Court considered her challenge of the ruling. In October, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling that Glenn was ineligible to represent Ward 5.
Glenn was on hand at the Leflore County Courthouse Tuesday night during the counting of the ballots.
Powell was going to win the special election, regardless of how many votes he got Tuesday, the mayor said. If Smith were to secure a majority of votes, McAdams said, they would be considered “illegal votes” and wouldn’t be counted, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
