Howard County
Howard Countians like early voting.
A total of 3,142 citizens cast ballots during the two weeks preceding the 2024 General Election, compared to 1,219 who voted on Election Day Nov. 5. There were 129 absentee ballots cast.
County voters mirrored the state in support of former President Donald Trump, who got 3,246 votes compared to his principal opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. The two Presidential candidates and their vice-president running mates accounted for more than 98% of the votes cast in the race in Howard County.
The county heavily supported Republican candidates in addition to Trump-Vance. Wide margins of support went to Rep. Bruce Westerman for U.S. Congress; John Thurston for State Treasurer; Sen. Jimmy Hickey, Jr., for the Arkansas Senate; and district State Rep. candidates John Maddox, Dist. 86; DeAnn Vaught, Dist. 87; and Dolly Henley, Dist. 88.
County voters also supported Karen Baker, the statewide winner, for Supreme Court Chief Justice.
Two ballot issues passed in Arkansas and enjoyed winning margins here. Issue No. 1, the lottery scholarship issue won easily. A narrower margin was enjoyed by Issue No. 2, the casino location issue.
Vote totals in the Presidential/Vice-Presidential race:
Trump/Vance — 3,246.
Harris/Walz — 1,158.
Kennedy/Shanahan — 43.
Oliver/Maat — 11.
Sonski/Onak — 5.
Wood/Pietrowski — 5.
Stein/Ware — 5.
Totals for the issues:
Issue No. 1
For — 3,839.
Against — 458.
Issue No. 2.
For — 2,391.
Against — 1,940.
Pike County
Election results for Pike County in the 2024 presidential election have been counted, with 67.85% of the 6,442 registered voters (4,371) casting ballots in the process of early voting and election day that was held on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Almost two-thirds cast their ballots in the early voting process – 3,053 – versus 1,227 county voters that waited until election day, with another 91 voters casting ballots via the absentee route and one overseas voter.
In the presidential race, 3,745 voters cast their preference for Donald Trump/J.D. Vance (85.68%) over the 560 votes for Kamala Harris/Tim Walz (12.81%). None of the other candidates for president garnered even 1% of the vote. Trump would win the statewide race with 64.23% of the vote.
Pike County also highly favored Republican Buce Westerman (3,741/85.59%) over Risie Howard (509/11.64%) in the race for Arkansas’ U.S. Congress District 4. Westerman won the district race with 72.93% of the vote.
In the statewide treasurer vote, Pike County gave 83.60% (3,654) of the vote to the soon former Secretary of State John Thurston over Democratic nominee John Pagan’s 11.76% (514). Thurston received 65.40% of the votes statewide to claim the race.
In the runoff for State Supreme Court Chief Justice Position 1, Pike County voters selected Karen Baker with a 57.17% rate (2,499) over her opposition Rhonda Wood’s 34.93% (1,527). Baker would receive 52.68% of the vote statewide.
Much of the ballot was taken up by unopposed candidates — including District 3 State Senator Steve Crowell, District 5 State Senator Terry Rice and District 89 State Representative Justin Gonzales, who all inexplicably won their races.
In local municipal races, the Delight City Council will see a pair of new faces in 2025 as Ty Sherrod defeated Jimmy Willams 58-39 for Valerie Wingfield’s number Two vacated position, while Brandi Rowton Martin won over incumbent Chris Goodson 55-41 for Position Three.
In Glenwood, Jimmy Clark defeated Rickey Lee Driggers 351-275 for the North Ward Position One Alderman seat on the city council.
Eligible Murfreesboro residents narrowly re-elected incumbent Lewis Gills to the South Ward Position One seat on the city council overt challenger Danny Eckert 275-256.
In the statewide referendums on constitutional amendments, Pike County was heavily for Issue One (86.91%) and to a lesser degree Issue Two (57.93%).
Statewide, voters went the same direction as Pike County, with 89.54% of the electorate passing Issue One – that allows for lottery derived scholarships to be used at vocational schools and 55.78% voting in favor of Issue Two, the amendment requiring local voter approval in a countywide special election for certain new casino licenses and repealing authority to issue a casino license in Pope County.
