Liberty County will swear in a new tax commissioner and the chief magistrate will take another oath of office following voting in Tuesday’s partisan primary.

Chief Magistrate Michael McGirt Jr., sworn into the office earlier this year, retained his seat by collecting 3,411 of the 5,016 votes cast in the primary, or 68%. Former Midway City Council member Malcolm Williams received 1,605 votes.

Tax commissioner office employee Jamie Sharp edged former county chief financial officer Kim McGlothlin for the open tax commissioner position. Sharp got 2,576 of the 5,041 votes cast, or 51.1%. McGlothlin received 2,465 votes.

Voting was light at the precincts Tuesday, as only 41% of the ballots cast were done at the precincts. There were 3,730 votes cast in early voting, accounting for 54.5% of the votes.

A total of 6,849 voters cast ballots in the primary, for a 15.41% turnout of the county’s 44,453 registered voters.

The only other county race determined in Tuesday’s primary was for Liberty County District 6 commissioner, as incumbent Eddie Walden defeated challenger McKesson Stafford in the Democrat primary. Walden received 550 votes, or 65.6%.

Other races set up who will be on the November general election ballot. Liberty County Commission Chairman Donald Lovette took nearly 78% of the vote in his primary, receiving 3,960 votes, in fending off a challenge from Chassidy Oliveira.

Lovette will face Republican Michael Navarro, who had no opposition in his primary. Navarro received 1,211 votes.

Timmy Blount beat Kevin Remillard in the Republican primary for the District 4 seat and will face Democrat incumbent Maxie Jones IV. Blount received 328 of the 397 votes cast.

District 5 Commissioner Gary Gilliard did not have opposition in his re-election bid, and neither did Probate Judge Nancy Aspinwall, Clerk of Court Linda Dixon Thompson, or Coroner Reggie Pierce.

All three Liberty County Board of Education seats up for election in the nonpartisan primary had no opposition, meaning incumbents Lavonia LeCounte, Marcus Scott IV and Carol Guyett, representing Districts 1, 2 and 3, respectively, are returned to office.

State Rep. Al Williams also easily won re-election to his House District 168 post, collecting 3,910 votes to challenger Henry Covington’s 1,103.

Ches Merritt also was uncontested in his race for state court solicitor, and Leonard Grinstead was unopposed to become the next state court judge.