The votes have been counted. What’s next in Harrison County tax collector’s race.
After all the votes were counted Monday, Interim Tax Collector Sharon Nash Barnett and Harrison County Supervisor Connie Rockco were headed for a Nov. 24 runoff in the Harrison County tax collector’s race.
The final tally shows Barnett with 27,441 votes, or 36.34%, to 19,216 votes, or 25.45% for Rockco. None of the other three candidates in the race reached 12% of the vote.
The returns were announced Monday afternoon when election officials had finished counting absentee ballots.
The tax collector’s race will be the lone race on the runoff ballot, which could mean a low voter turnout.
Both Barnett and Rockco are well-known in Harrison County.
Rockco has served as a Harrison County supervisor 21 years, while Barnett has worked in the tax collector’s office for about 18 years.
Rockco, the board’s current president, is emphasizing her leadership skills and county experience in the race, while Barnett has emphasized her experience in the tax collector’s office.
Barnett had promised supervisors that she would not run for the seat when they appointed her in April to replace David LaRosa, who resigned for health reasons. But Barnett said taxpayers persuaded her to seek the position.
Rockco has said the board’s longstanding policy is to ask that appointees not run for the public office in which they will serve because supervisors want to remain impartial.
Both women promise to increase efficiency in the office by offering more remote alternatives for conducting business. The tax collector’s office is the busiest in the county, customer-wise, because it is where people pay their property taxes on land, vehicles, houses and businesses
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 5:47 PM.
