Saturday night turned into a political roller coaster for Concordia Parish candidates, especially sheriff’s candidates Randy Maxwell and Glenn Lipsey.

After an initial misread of the numbers gave Maxwell a slight edge without a runoff &045;&045; and sent many residents to bed thinking that was the case &045;&045; it turned out the numbers were wrong.

Unless today’s certification of votes shows differently, Maxwell and Lipsey will face each other in the November runoff.

In the meantime, though, both have made some serious allegations about this year’s campaigning. Lipsey alleged such acts as vote-buying and toting voters to polls in parish vehicles.

Maxwell, who said the allegations are unfounded, simply said the campaign was among the dirtiest he had seen.

We hope the error on Saturday night does not add fuel to the fire of the allegations, which should be investigated if there is any truth to them. As for Maxwell’s observations of the campaigning &045;&045; which included advertising from a third candidate which alleged criminal misconduct on the sheriff’s part &045;&045; we hope such tactics stay out of the next leg of the race.

As for the headache created by the miscounting of votes, Clerk of Courts Clyde Ray Webber was already working on solutions Sunday afternoon.

He hopes to have more training for poll workers, as well as have workers from his own office keep an eye on results when they come in.

We just hope that in the next six weeks of campaigning, the candidates &045;&045; both in the sheriff’s race and the remaining police jury races &045;&045; keep it clean.