Although incumbent District 5 Commissioner Russell Smith only beat challenger Max Bryant by 18 votes in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election, he held an almost 3-to-1 advantage in the Recovery voting precinct.

According to official results provided by the Decatur County Board of Elections, Smith received 127 votes in the Recovery precinct, while Bryant received 45. Overall, Smith defeated Bryant 301 votes to 283.

Bryant topped Smith among Kendrick voters (82 to 65), West Bainbridge voters (93 to 59) and Coliseum voters (62 to 49). Both candidates received one vote in the Brinson precinct.

Smith will face Republican candidate Terry Ellis in the November general election.

Doris White, chief election official for the Board of Elections, said that there were still five provisional ballots left to be counted, but they are not large enough in number to change any of Tuesday’s election results.

In the race for county sheriff, incumbent Wiley Griffin defeated challenger Brock Washington, 2,646 votes to 1,213. Washington defeated Griffin among Attapulgus precinct voters, 257 to 198, but Griffin won in each of the other eight precincts.

In the race for the Decatur County Board of Education, District 1, seat, Kelvin Bouie used a dominating victory in the Attapulgus precinct to defeat Debbie Elkins. Bouie topped Elkins in the Attapulgus precinct, 333 votes to 141, while Elkins won in the other two eligible precincts — Climax (12 to 11) and Coliseum (90 to 71).

Incumbent District 3 Commissioner Charles Stafford failed in his bid for re-election, falling to challenger Dennis Brinson, 357 votes to 222. Brinson also won both precincts in his district — Fairgrounds (278 to 170) and Coliseum (79 to 52).

Several local elected officials did not face any opposition in the primary election, and have no opponents in the November general election, and were therefore automatically elected to additional terms.

Those officials include: District Attorney Joe Mulholland, Superior Court Clerk Cecilia Willis, Tax Commissioner Donald Belcher, Treasurer Jerry Maxwell, District 2 Commissioner David C. “Butch” Mosely, District 5 School Board Member Bobby Barber, Superior Court Judges A. Wallace Cato and J. Kevin Chason, State Court Judge George C. Floyd, Probate Court Judge Edwin J. “Chip” Perry III and Chief Magistrate Ralph C. Smith.

In the race for the Decatur County Board of Education, District 3, seat, incumbent Winston Rollins and challenger George Washington Jr. will face each other in a runoff election on Aug. 21. Also included in that runoff election are Republican U.S. Congress District 2 candidates Rick Allen and John House, who are vying to face incumbent Sanford Bishop in the November general election.

Voters who wish to vote for a U.S. Congress Republican candidate on Aug. 21 must request a Republican ballot. Because the school board race is non-partisan, it will appear on all three ballots — Republican, Democratic and independent.