Donna Tompkins defeats John Darr for Muscogee County sheriff

Challenger Donna Tompkins has defeated incumbent Muscogee County Sheriff John Darr by a margin of 6,434 votes to 6,017, or 51.67 percent to 48.33, according to unofficial final results from the Columbus Office of Elections and Registrations.

The raw numbers with all precincts plus the early in-person absentees counted were 5,730 for Tompkins and 5,324 for Darr.

In five days of early voting last week, 3,725 Columbus residents voted at the midtown Citizens Service Center off Macon Road. The score from those votes was 2,161 for Tompkins and 1,528 for Darr.

A Ledger-Enquirer check of individual voter precinct results showed Darr with about a 52 percent to 48 percent lead, but the early vote tally flipped those percentages in Tompkins’ favor.

In the Nov. 8 General Election, Tompkins had 29,866 votes to Darr’s 21,608, or 44.3 to 32 percent. With Republican Mark LaJoye taking 20.2 percent and write-in candidate Pam Brown drawing 3.4 percent, neither of the top two had the majority needed to win outright.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Donna Tompkins defeats John Darr for Muscogee County sheriff."