Centreville’s Nail-biter Election Sparks Legal Showdown
We still don't know for sure who will be sworn-in as mayor of Centreville the first week of November. The result from that August 26th municipal election in Bibb County is going to court, having been challenged by long serving incumbent Mike Oakley.
There were several close elections in the recent municipal election night across the state. However, you couldn't get any closer than the balloting in Centreville where Oakley and his challenger Barry Cooner were tied at 326 votes apiece when the vote was initially tallied.
However, last Tuesday, when the votes were certified, Cooner was declared the winner by just two votes. The Board of Registrars recount determined that only four of the ten provisional ballots cast were legal.
It was decided that three of the four ballots should go to Cooner, giving him 329 votes to Oakley’s 327. Election authorities have discounted tampering with the provisional ballots, but some observers have questioned how the four provisional ballots were determined to be legal while six were not.
Oakley has filed a lawsuit, claiming there was a "miscalculation or misconduct in counting the votes." The legal action seeks to address alleged errors made in the election process. The mayor believes some illegal votes were counted and some valid votes from him were not.
Oakley is asking the Bibb County Circuit Court to throw out the certified results and declare him the winner.
We also don't know who will serve in Council District 3. That race is a runoff a runoff between Incumbent Linda Lawrence and challenger Reese Lee, since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes cast. That runoff is September 23rd.
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