WILLIAMSON - Voters in four of Mingo County’s municipalities showed only mild interest in Tuesday’s elections, apparently as a result of little competition in the various races.

For instance, in the City of Williamson and the towns of Kermit, Matewan and Gilbert, the mayors had no opposition and were reelected. The same situation applied to the position of recorder in the towns. The only competition occurred in the races for council.

Gilbert Mayor Vivian Livingood, who is employed in the Personnel Department of the Mingo County Board of Education, e-mailed Daily News Editor Loretta Tackett regarding the low turnout of voters in her community.

She said the apathy could be the result of a couple of scenarios and explained with, “The people are so overwhelmed with cleaning up after the flood; the election was not publicized very well, and the fact the mayor’s and recorder’s positions had no opposition meant that people were comfortable with whomever was elected to the five council seats. This is the lowest turnout that I can remember in many years.”

Livingood received 52 votes in the mayor’s race, while Recorder Michael Fox was given 51 votes.

Returned to seats on the Gilbert Town Council and the votes the incumbents received were Randy Liv-ingood,48; Sharon Murphy, 46; Penny Sammons, 42, and Todd Westfall, 39. Chris Turner, the new addition to Council, received 36 votes. Kendall Simpson lost with 24 votes. It was noted that Ray Carter had chosen not to seek reelection to the council.

The town of Delbarton did not hold an election for the reason an election was held two years ago and the interval between elections is four years. Mayor John Preece was in a meeting Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Delbarton’s recorder is Kimberly Totten and town council members are Joe Crum, Mark Sizemore, Albert Totten, Clifford Davis and Jeremy Davis.

In Williamson, Mayor Darrin McCormick re-ceived 95 votes but the number of votes cast really was not important since he was unopposed for reelection to his second term in office.

Williamson, a Class III city according to its population, has a city clerk, Frances Frye, and this is an appointive position. In the towns or villages of West Virginia, voters usually choose a recorder at their regular elections.

In Ward I, (East Williamson). York Smith Jr. (D) was elected as councilman without opposition, receiving 21 votes. He served as a city councilman some years ago at a time when the late Joe Ramella served on city council.

Sherri Hairston Brown, (D), a deputy clerk in Mingo County Circuit Clerk, also won handily with only 23 votes for her opposition disappeared in the May Primary election when she defeated incumbent Mentola Jackson and another candidate, William Floyd Hensley.

Ward III saw Doffy Hall (D) winning the council seat with 50 votes, the most received by any of the other council winners. He was nominated for the council post in the primary by defeating the incumbent councilman, Kenneth Atkins. He had token opposition Tuesday from a Republican write-in, Jerry Farley, who received one vote. (Wards II and III encompass the central area of the city).

Ward IV (West Williamson) also will be greeting a new council representative in the person of Connie Rockel, (D), wife of Williamson Police Lt. C.D. Rockel. She received 13 votes. She defeated Democrat Don Rouse in the primary and will now fill a seat formerly held by Mickel Brewster.

In the Town of Matewan, there were two changes on the council when incumbents Dimple Allara and Henrietta May were defeated by newcomers Lois

Justice (with 52 votes) and Keith Blankenship (with 38 votes). Allara received 23 votes and May was the recipient of 28 votes.

Incumbent council members Steven Fullen (60 votes), Edward E. Nenni (53 votes) and Sandra Collins (35 votes) were reelected.

Mayor Sheila Kessler, who has served several terms as Matewan’s mayor, received 58 votes and was returned to office for another term. Her only opposition came from a write-in candidate, identified only as Greg Conley, who received three votes. Kessler is a former town recorder.

Jessica Horner was elected Matewan recorder with 51 votes and no opposition. Gregg Horner was former recorder.

The town of Kermit reelected its longtime mayor, Johnny Linville, giving him 86 votes. He was unopposed for the mayorship.

Although the position of town recorder is usually an elective one, this was not on the 2009 ballot at Kermit.

Rhonda Muncy is presently serving as recorder by appointment of the town council.

Kermit’s Town Council was easily returned to office.

Charles Bennett Sparks, a former mayor for two years, has been a councilman for eight years and received 72 votes in Tuesday’s election.

Other incumbent council members returned to office are: Wilburn “Hawky” Preece, who was top vote getter for council with 79 votes; Peggy Moore, 74 votes; Charles “Chuck” Cassell, 69 votes, and Anna Mae Wellman, 67 votes. Billy Davis was a candidate for council but was low with 47 votes.

When the Kermit Town Council holds its canvass of the election, it will have 14 challenged votes to consider and rule on. They were challenged for reasons of residency or registration questions, it was reported.

Paper ballots were used in the elections and were tabulated by the election officers. There was only the one announcement by Matewan regarding the date of an election canvass. The other towns have not reported when these will be held.