Hardman wins in Superior Court clerk race

Ann Hardman, a local minister and newcomer to the political arena, is the new Muscogee County Superior Court clerk.

With all 26 precincts reporting, Hardman was leading 94 percent to 6 percent in the race against write-in candidate Mike Garner Tuesday night. She received 22,946 votes compared to 1,478 for Garner. This does not include all of the early votes.

Hardman is chief executive officer of three ministries based in Columbus and in her hometown of Asheville, N.C. She beat incumbent Superior Court Clerk Linda Pierce 60 percent to 40 percent in the May primary.

Garner, a local criminal defense lawyer, challenged Hardman, touting his 40 years practicing law in Columbus.

According to unofficial results, Hardman’s advantage was overwhelming in some precincts. At Rothschild Middle School, 1136 Hunt Ave., Hardman had 1,259 to just 10 write-ins. At Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church, 4400 Cusseta Road, Hardman had 1,231, with only 17 write-in votes recorded. At the Psalmond Road Recreation Center, 6500 Psalmond Road, the Democrat had 1,222 votes. The write-ins were 85.

Hardman spent Tuesday night watching election returns at a friend’s house, where about 50 people gathered. She said she couldn’t believe the margin of victory.

“I’m like whoa, I didn’t realize it was going to be that big of difference, but wow,” she said. “I really didn’t know how the people were going to vote. I tried to stay true to my platform of what I was going to do, versus trying to continuously tell everybody that I was qualified because I’d already read the qualifications and it was not necessary to be an attorney of law to run that office. But you did need to have people skills, management skills and customer service, and those were the things I brought to the table.

“So I’m just really honored and humbled that the people are going to allow me to serve them this next four years,” she said.

Garner entered the race after the primary. He had hoped to run as an Independent, but he ran out of time to collect 5,000 signatures. A lawsuit that he filed challenging the constitutionality of the signature requirement was thrown out because the deadline for signatures passed before a hearing could be scheduled.

On Tuesday night, Garner said he wasn’t surprised by the results and was ready to move on with his life.

“She’s won by a tremendous amount because she was on the ballot and I kind of knew it was going to be impossible with the write-in,” he said. “I was really hoping that this race would get a lot more coverage in the news media, but the presidential race, the tax freeze and the sheriff’s race had just overshadowed it. And it’s just been lost in the shuffle.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 8:56 PM with the headline "Hardman wins in Superior Court clerk race."