Election to fill two positions in Fort Smith

Mayor, director on ballot; voters to pick state senator

FORT SMITH -- Voters will cast ballots today for a new mayor and an at-large member of the Board of Directors as well as decide who will finish the final weeks of a former state senator's term.

Three candidates are running to succeed retiring Mayor Sandy Sanders while three others are vying to succeed Position 5 Director Tracy Pennartz, who decided not to run for re-election. The elections are nonpartisan.

Two candidates are running to serve out former District 8 state Sen. Jake Files' term, which ends Dec. 31. District 8 covers portions of Fort Smith and Sebastian County.

Sebastian County's 22 vote centers will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today. Registered voters in Sebastian County may vote at any open vote center on election day, according to the county clerk's office.

Early voting began Aug. 7 and ran through 5 p.m. Monday. As of 3:30 p.m. Monday, 2,081 early ballots had been cast in Fort Smith, according to the clerk's office.

The candidates for mayor are District 78 state Rep. George McGill, retired Southside High School Principal Wayne Haver and University of Arkansas at Fort Smith student Luis Andrade.

Candidates running for Pennartz's seat on the board are amusement companies sales representative Libby Piatt, McDonald's department manager Samuel Price and Spradling Elementary School Principal and small-business owner Robyn Dawson.

If one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes cast in the municipal races, that candidate will win the election. If not, the two candidates with the most votes will appear on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

Republican Frank Glidewell and Libertarian William Whitfield Hyman are running to fill the District 8 senate seat left vacant by Files, the Republican from Fort Smith who resigned in February.

Files, 46, was sentenced June 18 in federal court to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in January to wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud charges. He also was ordered to pay $89,903.77 restitution, according to federal court records.

The wire fraud and money laundering charges grew out of Files taking nearly $26,000 in state General Improvement Fund money for his own use. He was charged with bank fraud for pledging as collateral for a bank loan a forklift that he had sold months earlier to satisfy a debt.

At the time of Files' resignation, he was chairman of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee and a member of the Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs Committee; the Senate Efficiency Committee; the Arkansas Legislative Council; and the Joint Budget Committee.

Files began serving the sentence Aug. 2 at a minimum-security prison in El Reno, Okla.

State Desk on 08/14/2018

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