2014 Scott County Election
The 2014 Scott County General Election was held on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. Precincts included Fairview, Robbins, Elgin, Huntsville, Paint Rock, Helenwood, Winfield, Pine Hill, Oneida and West Oneida.
The election saw Dale Perdue win as County Mayor, Ronnie Phillips win as Sheriff and Dick Sexton win as Road Superintendent, while nine new faces were elected to Scott County Commission.
Voter turnout was 52.4% — 7,109 of 13,578 registered voters participated.
County Mayor
In the race for County Mayor, first-term incumbent Jeff Tibbals was defeated by former business owner Dale Perdue of Oneida. In a race that also featured 5th District County Commissioner Paul Strunk and Pine Hill pastor Wayne King, Perdue received more votes than all the other candidates combined, and won all but the Oneida precinct.
Tibbals won narrowly in Oneida, and Perdue won by just three votes of Tibbal and Strunk in the Winfield precinct. However, he enjoyed lopsided advantages in Fairview, Elgin and Robbins, and also won Huntsville and Helenwood by wide margins.
Sheriff
After being appointed by Scott County Commission to fill the unexpired term of Mike Cross, who died of cancer in December 2013, Ronnie Phillips overwhelmingly won his first election, with 84% of the vote.
Phillips received 5,801 votes, while former Chief Deputy Bobby Ellis received 1,128 votes. Ellis had narrowly lost a write-in campaign to Cross in the 2010 election after Anthony Lay resigned too late for him to get on the ballot.
Trustee
Incumbent Trustee Jimmy D. Byrd won a fifth term by defeating Rebecca Terry Strunk, 5,425 to 705. Also running was Cindy Strunk, who finished with 547 votes.
Road Superintendent
The most hotly-contested race on the 2014 ballot was Road Superintendent, which saw three-term incumbent Donald “Dick” Sexton defeat West Oneida’s Dale Boyatt by a slim, 41-vote margin. Sexton received 3,451 votes to Boyatt’s 3,410. Boyatt actually out-polled Sexton on Election Day, 1,384 to 1,274 while winning seven out of 10 precincts. But Seton enjoyed a 2,177 to 2,026 advantage in early voting.
Uncontested Races
In uncontested races, incumbent County Clerk Pat Phillips received 6,024 votes, while Circuit Court Clerk Donnie Phillips — twin brother to Ronnie Phillips — received 6,000 votes. Incumbent Register of Deeds Porter “Benjie” Rector Jr. received 5,831 votes, while County Attorney John Beaty received 5,385 votes and General Sessions Judge James L. “Jamie” Cotton Jr. received 4,728 votes.