The race for Scurry County’s three Republican Party nominations came down to the wire Tuesday night.
All three races were determined by less than 100 votes, according to results announced by County Clerk Melody Appleton. A total of 1,444 people voted in the primaries Tuesday, which represented 15.54 percent of the county’s 9,291 registered voters.
In the race for County Judge, Dan Hicks won the nomination with 736 total votes (52.57 percent) while Bob May finished with 664 votes (47.43 percent). The two candidates split the two polling locations.
Hicks won the vote at the Scurry County Library, 306-234, and the Towle Park barn, 240-169. May won both locations at The Coliseum. He carried the south side voting 189-146 and the north side, 72-44.
Hicks had the advantage in early voting with 453 votes while May had 405 votes.
“I’m very elated, excited and humbled by the results,” Hicks said. “I’m just excited for the future.”
Hicks said he will be very busy in the months before he takes office in January.
“Well, until then, I still have a job to do (as a city code enforcement officer),” he said. “But I’m going to start getting ready. I’m looking at some of the ideas I have and going to get them ready to go just as soon as I get into office.”
Those issues include establishing adequate reserves in the county budget to face possible shortfalls.
“Obviously, we need to craft a budget and build our reserves back up,” he said. “Then I want to see how quickly we can get rid of Maverick West. I also want to see what we can do with the airport, what kind of options we have, and I want to work with (Development Corporation of Snyder) on expanding our tax base.”
Craig Merritt won the nomination for Pct. 2 Commissioner. Merritt received 279 votes (51.86 percent) while Morgan West finished with 259 votes (48.14 percent). Merritt held a 192-160 lead in early voting.
“I’m just thankful it ended up the way it did,” Merritt said. “I’ve been at this for over a year now, but now it’s on to the hard part — doing what I said I’d do. I’m going to run the office just like I’ve done in the campaign — I’m going to go to the people and tell them what’s going on. I’m going to knock on doors and talk to folks and ask them what they think.”
Once he takes office in January, Merritt said he will be committed to giving residents more of a say in county affairs.
“I think the problem was not so much that people were tired of the people in office as they were tired of not having a say in things, and I’m going to give them a say,” he said.
Like Hicks, Merritt also wants to address dwindling cash reserves at the county.
“One thing I’m definitely going to push for as hard as I can is building up emergency reserves in our budget,” he said. “It’s crazy not to have that. If something goes to pot, we have to have the money to fix it. We shouldn’t have that problem right now.”
Incumbent Jim Robinson won the Pct. 4 Commissioner nomination by defeating Clay Mize. Robinson finished with 179 votes (54.24 percent) and Mize had 151 votes (45.76 percent). Mize held a one-vote lead, 94-93, when the early voting figures were released.
“I want to thank everybody in Pct. 4 who voted for me and thank them for having the confidence in me to give me one more term,” Robinson said. “I feel blessed to have that.”
Robinson said one thing commissioners will have to look at in the coming year is whether the county should remain involved in the Local Government Corporation (LGC).
“I feel we have to address the LGC,” he said. “Whatever the court decides, we have to address it. I’m not for it, but I’m not necessarily against it if it makes the county money. And we’ll have to face the budget in a new year. We’ll be dealing with shortages. Everyone will.”
In the Democratic race for governor, Lupe Valdez carried Scurry County with 20 votes (51.28 percent) while Andrew White received 19 votes (48.71 percent).
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