Two incumbents will remain on the Houston school board while the Houston City Council will welcome a pair of new citizens.
Leon Slape and Stacie Ely maintained their seats on the board of education by defeating challenger Tim Malam. Slape received 434 votes and Ely had 412 compared to 243 for Malam.
Kevin Stilley will represent Ward I on the city council after beating incumbent Joe Honeycutt 55-41. Chalky Wells, who has previously served with the council, was the winner in Ward II by a 52-18 margin over Fawn Bell, who announced she is leaving the community and would not be able to fulfill a term after the ballots were already printed.
Incumbent Victoria Narancich ran unopposed in Ward III.
Just under 2,000 ballots –– representing 12.5 percent of registered voters –– were cast in the Tuesday election.
Voters across the county approved a “use tax” to allow government entities to tax internet sales from outof-state firms. A simple majority was approved in Texas County (968-945), Texas County Emergency Services (942-939), Houston (155-114), Licking (81-74) and Cabool (81-70).
In a race for one seat on the Texas County Emergency Services board, incumbent Brad Evans was reelected to a four-year term 631-403 over Glen McKinney in District 1. Hope Martin, representing District 2, and Bill Bridges, an at-large candidate, ran unopposed.
In other school board races, incumbent Allen Branstetter was re-elected to the Raymondville school board. He was the only person who filed for two, three-year terms. At Licking, Jeremy Rinne and Rawly Gorman topped a five-person field. Rinne received 250 votes and Gorman had 204, followed by Haley Joyner (192), Brad Richards (114) and John Huff (89).
Sam Jewett and Billy Duncan were elected to the Summersville board of education in a three-person race. Jewett (103) and Duncan (88) topped Danny Smith (58). At Cabool, Stephen Hawkins and Teddy J. Noirfalise were elected to three-year positions. Hawkins (271) was the leading vote-getter and Noirfalise edged Brenda Jarrett 206-198.
Bobby Biram was the only candidate seeking one of two, two-year terms as a Village of Plato trustee. At the Village of Raymondville, Gene DeWitt filed for one, two-year term.
Summersville voters approved a ballot issue allowing the city to forgo elections if the number of candidates who have filed is equal to the number of positions to be filled. The count was 13-8.