CAIRO VOTE HEAVY; FOUR PICKED FOR SCHOOL BOARD

CAIRO, Ill. -- Voters came out in force to elect four people to positions on the Cairo Board of Education Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Alexander County clerk's office said nearly 35 percent of registered voters turned out for the election. County Clerk Sue Harrington earlier had said participation is generally light in school board elections, with fewer than 10 percent of voters usually casting ballots.

Incumbents Tim Pierce and Julian Howard were among the 12 candidates competing for the positions, all of which are for four-year terms.

Winners were Pierce, former board member Vernon Stubblefield, and newcomers Laurie Taslinger Caldwell and Danny Brown. The four were the top choices in each of the district's five precincts, receiving a total of 604, 528, 506 and 470 votes, respectively.

Ronnie Garrett and Thomas Burris Jr. finished in fifth and seventh place, with 374 and 308 votes, respectively.

Three candidates -- Chauncey Hughes, Anthony Peairs and E. Delores Purdiman -- were endorsed by the United Front civil rights organization and ran as a team. The three were in the middle of the standings. Hughes received 281 votes, Purdiman 282, and Peairs 225.

Rounding out the bottom totals were Danny Mayberry, 234 votes; Howard, 81 votes; and Phillip Matthews, with 62 votes.

The United Front candidates had filed complaints and requested the disqualification of six of their opponents, whom they said had improperly filed petitions to run for office. They accused Harrington of accepting the illegal petitions, not keeping up-to-date voter registration records, and improperly barring them or their observers from being present while votes were counted.

Over the weekend the trio sent a letter to the U.S. attorney general requesting federal intervention in the election because they feared their voting rights and those "of the African American community in general" would be violated. Bruce Crosby, a spokesperson for the team, said representatives from the U.S. Justice Department informed them they would allow state examiners to take the lead in overseeing the election.

State examiners were present during tallying at Harrington's request.

"We're still very concerned about the voter registration roles," Crosby said. "They need to be cleaned up. Despite the election results, all of our candidates are still committed to raise the issues at the school board and to make sure that if not as board members, then as concerned parents, they remain active in what goes on in the school district."

The unofficial results:

-- Tim Pierce -- 604

-- Vernon Stubblefield -- 528

-- Laurie Taslinger Caldwell -- 506

-- Danny Brown -- 470

-- Ronnie Garrett -- 374

-- Thomas Burris Jr. -- 308

-- E. Delores Purdiman -- 282

-- Chauncey Hughes -- 281

-- Danny Mayberry -- 234

-- Anthony Peairs -- 225

-- Julian Howard -- 81

-- Phillip Matthews -- 62