Bean, Atchison garner early leads in other counties as problems hamper release of Butler County election results

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Election night was hampered in Butler County by “system” problems that delayed the release of results.

Normally available by 9 p.m. on election night, the results were still pending as of 11 p.m. It is rare for Butler County to see lengthy delays in the tabulation of election results.

By 10 p.m., all counties in the 25th Senate District and 153rd House District races, except Butler, had been tabulated. However, results could not be finalized without the votes from Butler County’s large population.

In the hotly contested Republican Senate race, as of 10 p.m., Jason Bean held a comfortable lead over his three rivals, garnering 55.9% of the 20,066 votes tallied at that point.

Bean’s closest rival, Poplar Bluff’s Eddy Justice, was well off the pace with 16.33% of the vote.

Poplar Bluff’s Jeff Shawan and Steve Cookson had a total of 14.54% and 13.22% of the vote total, respectively.

By 10 p.m., only 4,523 votes had been tallied in the Republican 153rd House District race, with Darrell Atchison holding a comfortable lead at 51% of the vote.

Larry Kimbrow was holding almost 27% of the vote total, and Skip Johnson accounted for a little more than 22%.

“I appreciate the support from the people that we got to meet through the campaign,” said Atchison as he awaited results.

Atchison said he “campaigned very hard and met a lot of great people throughout the district. I just enjoyed meeting the people, and my idea of representing the district was to get out and meet the people.”

Unlike the Senate race, the House race, Atchison felt, was mostly non-negative.

“I think the people appreciated that we stayed positive,” he said.

Representatives for Bean said he would not comment Tuesday evening, and was spending time with family.

Neither winner from Tuesday’s primary will face a Democratic challenger in the November general election.

State Senate District 25 includes Shannon, Carter, Butler, Stoddard, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin and Mississippi counties.

State Representative District 153 includes Carter, Ripley, Butler and Wayne counties.