Sixty-eight percent of registered voters in Carroll County cast votes on Nov. 8, and closely followed the Republican Party line in Arkansas. Republican candidates U.S. Senator John Boozman and U.S. Rep. 3rd District Steve Womack will both return to Washington.
The 1 percent sales tax in Eureka Springs failed by a wide margin, 703 – 356, while voters approved an ambulance district for the eastern part of the county. A medical marijuana amendment passed in both the county and the state.
Democrat Sheriff Randy Mayfield will stay in office after defeating Jack Gentry, and Democrat Sam Barr will remain county judge by defeating Charlie Reece by 15 percentage points. Both Democratic candidates for the quorum court lost, with Craig Hicks out-tallying JoAnn Harris 499-244 and Noreen Watson beating Jim Lowery 548-443.
Incumbent Eureka Springs alderman James DeVito was drubbed by Peg Adamson, 608-420.
In our 50-state union, which has been likened to 50 tiny countries in one republic, there was a presidential election where Hillary Rodham Clinton won the popular vote but lost the electoral college to her opponent, Donald Trump in a surprise that seemed to say goodbye to the environment, goodbye to education, goodbye to Affordable Health Care benefits and goodbye to pay equality, but hello to clear-cutting, expanded coal mining, pipeline construction by eminent domain and denial of climate change. The Republican nominee, who has said he is “smart” for not paying taxes to support the government he is about to lead, was not able to back up that claim since he refused to release his tax returns.
Clinton’s opponent has made clear over the past 17 months he will not tolerate certain Americans and will deport them to the country of their origin, then build a wall along the southern U.S. border to prevent refugees from entering a “Great America” again. He has mocked both those with physical disabilities and those with model-like physical attributes. He has been fact-checked and confronted with false statements to no avail, as the mood of the United States has been widely perceived as a a cry for change at any cost.
In other news, the sun did come up on Wednesday morning, and President Barack Obama graciously invited Trump to the White House