Jeff Clark

ABERDEEN — The Democratic Executive Committee of Aberdeen decided Wednesday not to certify votes in the Ward 2 Alderman Race.

“In Ward 2, we found some discrepancies,” stated committee spokesperson Bob Miller. “We are not going to accept that (the alderman race) as of right now. We are going to have another meeting Friday morning at nine because we had three people that voted twice, both as an absentee and during the election.

The controversy stems from Tuesday’s runoff election in which Incumbent Cloyd Garth defeated Wilchie Clay by one vote, 264 to 263. Clay had no comment at press time.

“We had three people that voted twice,” said Coy Flynn, committee chairman. “That’s voter fraud and we are not going to certify Mr. Garth or Mr. Clay either one. As you know, Mr. Garth won by one vote after we counted the absentee ballots. We counted three absentee ballots that had already been voted during the day. We are going to talk to those people on Friday, I hope.”

Flynn also stated that he could not comment on whether or not legal action would be taken in the matter.

A date has not yet been set for the second Ward 2 runoff.