Voters in Ward 1 in Jackson still do not know who their city councilman will be a week after the Mississippi capital city’s municipal elections. Days before the June 13 deadline to certify municipal election results, the Jackson Municipal Election Commissioners continue to count affidavit and mail-in absentee ballots to determine who will be the next Ward 1 City Council representative.
Incumbent Councilman Ashby Foote, independent Grace Greene and Democrat Jasmine Barnes were all separated by a handful of votes on the night of the June 3 general election;the race remains too close to call.
“It’s kind of surreal to be part of something that’s unexpected,” Greene said in a June 10 interview with the Mississippi Free Press. “People said it would be close, but you’d never think it would be almost a perfect three-way tie.”
On the night of the general election, Foote led the race with 1,738 votes, while Greene trailed closely behind with 1,728 and Barnes was in third with 1,713.
Foote has served as the Ward 1 councilman since voters first elected him to the position in 2014. He told the Mississippi Free Press that while he feels optimistic about the possibility of reelection, he is holding off on any premature celebrations.
“I realize that every vote counts. We’ll see how it all ends up when they get it all counted,” he said on June 10.
The population of Ward 1 grew significantly between 2010 and 2020, Census data showed. On Aug. 12, 2024, the Jackson City Council approved new ward maps intended to balance population evenly across the city.
Greene said the results signify that many Ward 1 residents are ready for new representation.
“You could say that two-thirds of the people voted for a change from the incumbent. Jasmine and I were both political newcomers and ran strong campaigns. The majority of people wanted a change in representation at City Hall,” she said.
The deadline to certify the results is June 13, Jackson Municipal Clerk Angela Harris told the Mississippi Free Press. However, she anticipates that the election commission’s resolution board will have the remaining ballots examined and tallied by Wednesday, June 11.
Barnes said she will be there as the board tallies the results. “I’m just letting the process happen as it does,” she told the Mississippi Free Press on June 10. “I don’t have any regrets as far as how I ran my campaign. I feel like I gave it everything I had. Regardless of the outcome, I feel satisfied with the efforts that I made.”
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