WOODVILLE &045; In Wilkinson County’s Democratic primary election, bar coding errors on 25 ballots cast in a Third District precinct led officials Wednesday afternoon to declare a dead heat in the District 2 supervisors’ race.

With 426 votes each, incumbent Kirk Smith and challenger Richard L. Hollins will face each other again in the Aug. 26 runoff election, Democratic Executive Committee member Bruce Collier said.

&uot;Twenty-five ballots out of District Three tallied votes for those two guys (Smith or Hollins) before the box for District Two was ever opened,&uot; Collier said.

Smith led Hollins by a 443-433 vote margin in Tuesday night’s unofficial returns. Collier said committee members discovered the bar coding error on Wednesday.

&uot;The errors were made by the printer in Nebraska &045; it was not due to any mistake on our part,&uot; Collier said.

The 25 defective ballots will not disturb the results of the District 3 supervisor’s race between Jack R. &uot;Buck&uot; Darden and Frank Boss since Darden won reelection with 66 percent of the votes, Collier said.

The Aug. 26 ballot will also include a runoff between Marketta D. Clark and &uot;Chilly&uot; Willie Thompson for Western District constable. Running in a field of four candidates, Clark received 650 votes or 28.6 percent, while Thompson garnered 768 votes or 33.8 percent.

In the Eastern District, incumbent Constable Julia Leake Wells was defeated by challenger Jessie W. Stewart, who drew 1,051 votes against Wells’ 851 votes.