By DAN KEGLEY/Staff
Smyth County voters elected Democrat John Graham to the office of clerk of the county’s circuit court Tuesday, giving him 1,838 votes. Republican Robert Odum had the support of 1,049 voters.
For the independent candidates, Herb Clay received 105 votes, Amy Trail Hopkins 366, Alvin Jones 45, Colin Lincoln 124, and Deborah Thomas 206. The registrar’s office also reported 22 write-in votes.
Election results are unofficial until certified by the state board of elections.
Graham campaigned in part on his experience as an attorney and in his post as commissioner of accounts. “My experience as a lawyer, in and out of the clerk’s office on an almost daily basis for the last 10 years, and my experience with estate matters as commissioner of accounts, would help me to serve well as clerk,” he wrote in a response to a newspaper questionnaire. “In the last few weeks alone, as commissioner of accounts I have been called by the clerk's office on multiple occasions to consult over complex legal matters involving the probate of wills and the administration of estates.”
With seven candidates and interest running high in the rarely vacant constitutional office, the campaigns were cordially conducted as each candidate focused on selling his or her own credentials.
Despite the special nature of this called election, and in part because of lingering cold and repeated bouts of sometimes accumulating snow, voter turnout was generally light. Just before the polls closed, Smyth County General Registrar of Voters Sandy Elswick estimated on the basis of sketchy precinct data a turnout of between 10 and 15 percent.
“Still,” she said, “that’s better than a primary.”
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