May election leaves much of DFW running off into June

by Erin Rice

Thanks to several three way races, many DFW towns have another Saturday election to look forward to.

With a number of three or more candidate races in Saturday's elections, many towns still have questions as to who will fill certain council and school board seats.

Don't start congratulating just yet.

Perhaps one of the more bizarre runoffs involved the Wilmer mayoral race. Brian Sliter, a registered sex offender, withdrew from the race back in March, but a loophole kept his name on the ballot. Now Don Hudson and Teresa Bain will be forced into a runoff election because 25 people in Wilmer (7%) voted for Sliter. As a result, neither legitimate candidate received more than 50%.

Other mayoral races entering into runoffs include Denton and White Settlement. In Denton, incumbent Mayor Perry McNeill received 39% of the vote, while challenger Mark Burroughs outdid him with nearly 49% of the vote. White Settlement mayoral challenger Jerry R. Burns received about 48.5% of the vote and will face off against incumbent Mayor James O. Ouzts, who took 40.4%.

Several council races remain undecided today, including Arlington, Frisco, Grapevine, McKinney, Mesquite, Oak Point, and Southlake.

(The original posting of this story included ISD races that were undecided, but ISD races do not proceed to a runoff election. We have removed that section of this story to alleviate any confusion.)

The runoff elections for all City Council positions will take place on Saturday, June 14.