By J.R. Tidwell / Editor

The June 5 primary election has come and gone, and the results in one local race have necessitated a runoff.

Candidates for probate judge Rex Cleckler and Jason Calhoun will be on the Republican primary runoff ballot on July 17.

Neither candidate amassed the required number of votes, 50 percent plus one vote, to win the position outright in the primary election.

Cleckler received 3,535 votes (39.7 percent) to Calhoun’s 3,158 (35.47 percent).

There were 22 provisional ballots left to be added to the probate judge vote totals after unofficial results came in on June 5.

Cleckler was selected on 13 of these provisional ballots, while Calhoun was chosen on two of them.

All told 440 absentee ballots were cast in the race, with 203 selecting Calhoun and 155 voting for Cleckler.

Absentee voting will also be available during the primary runoff.

Any registered voter who needs to vote absentee may do so through July 12 at the circuit clerk’s office located at the courthouse.

The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m.

For those unable to visit the office in person, a request form may be filled out to have an absentee ballot mailed to them.

According to the office of the Alabama secretary of state, “To obtain an absentee ballot, write or visit the local absentee election manager (usually the circuit clerk), request an absentee ballot, and provide the following:

• Name and residential address (or other such information in order to verify voter registration)
• Election for which the ballot is requested
• Reason for absence from polls on election day
• Party choice, if the election is a party primary. (It is not necessary to give a party choice for a general election; however, in a party primary a voter may participate in only one political party’s primary; thus a choice must be designated so that the appropriate ballot can be provided. If the voter declines or fails to designate a choice for a primary or primary runoff ballot, the absentee election manager may send only the ballot for constitutional amendments.)
• Address to which the ballot should be mailed
• Voter signature (If a mark is made in place of a signature, it must be witnessed.)

“The absentee ballot application must be returned to the Absentee Election Manager by the voter in person (or by the voter’s designee in the case of medical emergency voting) or by U.S. Mail.  No absentee ballot application may be mailed in the same envelope as another voter’s absentee ballot application.”

The absentee election manager for Chilton County is Glenn McGriff, who can be reached at (205) 755-4275.

July 12 is the last day McGriff can receive a request for an absentee ballot. Ballots must be postmarked by close of business on July 16.

Terry D. Martin and Ed Oliver are also in a runoff for state representative of District No. 81.

Six other statewide elections will also be on the primary runoff ballot: Will Ainsworth and Twinkle Cavanaugh for lieutenant governor, Troy King and Steve Marshall for attorney general, Brad Mendheim and Sarah Hicks Stewart for associate justice of the Supreme Court Place No. 1, Christy Olinger Edwards and Michelle Manley Thomason for Court of Civil Appeals judge Place No. 1, Rich Anderson and Chris McCool for Court of Criminal Appeals judge Place No. 2 and Gerald Dial and Rick Pate for Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries.

No votes in the Democratic primary election necessitated a runoff.