Editing Lee County, Arkansas (section)

==Government and infrastructure==

=== Government ===
The county government is a constitutional body granted specific powers by the [[Constitution of Arkansas]] and the [[Arkansas Code]]. The quorum court is the legislative branch of the county government and controls all spending and revenue collection. Representatives are called justices of the peace and are elected from county districts every even-numbered year. The number of districts in a county vary from nine to fifteen, and district boundaries are drawn by the county election commission. The Lee County Quorum Court has nine members. Presiding over quorum court meetings is the county judge, who serves as the chief executive officer of the county. The county judge is elected at-large and does not vote in quorum court business, although capable of vetoing quorum court decisions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Quorum Courts |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/quorum-courts-6348/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Office of County Judge |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/office-of-county-judge-5720/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Lee County, Arkansas Elected countywide officials<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lee {{!}} Association of Arkansas Counties |url=https://www.arcounties.org/counties/lee/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.arcounties.org}}</ref><ref>https://www.arcounties.org/site/assets/files/6033/november_races.pdf</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Night Reporting |url=https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/Lee/115807/web.307039/#/summary?v=313686/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=results.enr.clarityelections.com}}</ref>
!Position
!Officeholder
!Party
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[County judge|County Judge]]
|Terry Sandefer
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Municipal clerk|County Clerk]]
|Pam Webb
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Court clerk|Circuit Clerk]]
|Millie A. Hill
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Sheriff]]/[[Tax collector|Collector]]
|Corey Demond Wilson
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Treasurer]]
|Mark Smith
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Tax assessment|Assessor]]
|Becky Hogan
|Democratic
|-style="background-color: #92C5DE;
|[[Coroner]]
|Robert Kennedy
|Democratic
|}
The composition of the Quorum Court following the 2024 elections is 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans. Justices of the Peace (members) of the Quorum Court following the elections are: <ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Election Night Reporting |url=https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/Lee/119906/web.317647/#/summary?v=333263/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=results.enr.clarityelections.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Lee County, Arkansas, elections, 2024 |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Lee_County,_Arkansas,_elections,_2024 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Election Night Reporting |url=https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/Lee/122542/web.345435/#/summary?v=355349/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=results.enr.clarityelections.com |language=en}}</ref>

* District 1: Rusty Crump (D)
* District 2: Junious Pruett (R)
* District 3: Lydia Lewis (D)
* District 4: Jed S. Anderson (D)
* District 5: Ronni Schwantz (R)
* District 6: Tracia Tinzie (D)
* District 7: West Higginbothom (D)
* District 8: Bill Gerrard (D)
* District 9: Jesse C. Garrett (D)

Additionally, the townships of Lee County are entitled to elect their own respective constables, as set forth by the [[Constitution of Arkansas]]. Constables are largely of historical significance as they were used to keep the peace in rural areas when travel was more difficult.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is a Constable? |url=https://www.uaex.uada.edu/business-communities/ced-blog/posts/2022/may/what-is-a-constable.aspx |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250331011334/https://www.uaex.uada.edu/business-communities/ced-blog/posts/2022/may/what-is-a-constable.aspx |archive-date=2025-03-31 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=What is a Constable? |language=en}}</ref> The township constables as of the 2024 elections are: <ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

* District 1: James Stacks (D)
* District 2: Payton Stegall (R)
* District 3: Carl E. Bledsoe Sr. (D)
* District 5: Thomas Webb III (D)
* District 6: Mike Middleton (D)
* District 7: Adrian D. Smith (D)
* District 8: Timothy Turley (D)

=== Infrastructure ===
The [[East Arkansas Regional Unit]] of the [[Arkansas Department of Correction]] is in Lee County.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://adc.arkansas.gov/faciliities/Pages/facilityDetails.aspx?show=13 | title = Facilities: East Arkansas Regional Unit | publisher = [[Arkansas Department of Correction]] | access-date = March 8, 2011 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110628034614/http://adc.arkansas.gov/faciliities/Pages/facilityDetails.aspx?show=13 | archive-date = June 28, 2011 }}</ref>

The Lee County Courthouse in located in the town of Marianna,<ref>{{cite web | title = Lee County Arkansas Courthouse | url = http://lee.countycriminal.com/court-records-search/AR | publisher = County Criminal Records | access-date = November 29, 2012}}</ref> which is the county seat.<ref name=local.arkansas.gov>{{cite web | url = http://local.arkansas.gov/local.php?agency=Lee%20County | title = Lee County | publisher = Local.Arkansas.gov: County and Municipal Information & Services | access-date = November 29, 2012}}</ref>

=== Politics ===
Since World War II, Lee County has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in all but two elections: 1948, when it voted for third-party [[Strom Thurmond]] rather than for Harry Truman, and in 1972, when formerly Democratic voters crossed party lines and voted for Republican [[Richard Nixon]]. The former comes with the caveat that Black people could not vote in the South in 1948, and the latter was the last year that white conservatives dominated county politics. Following passage and enforcement of the [[Voting Rights Act]] of 1965, newly registered African Americans began to support Democratic Party candidates. They have largely maintained this affiliation. Most whites have shifted into the Republican Party since the 1970s, and major population loss combined with the state's hard right turn has made the county tightly close in recent elections. Despite being a Democratic stronghold, in 2020 Donald Trump became the first Republican since 1972 (and only the second overall) to come within 5% of winning the county.

{{PresHead|place=Lee County, Arkansas|source=<ref name="DL">{{cite web|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|access-date=November 18, 2016}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|1,181|1,270|69|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|1,286|1,423|139|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|1,229|1,735|62|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|1,280|2,107|37|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|1,454|2,263|46|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|1,492|2,548|40|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|1,351|2,727|43|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|1,013|3,267|273|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,293|3,436|337|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|1,863|2,878|71|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|2,101|2,541|75|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|1,711|3,103|62|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|1,574|3,463|1|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|3,540|1,907|34|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|834|2,135|1,907|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|1,668|2,335|8|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|1,034|1,409|258|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|974|1,719|121|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|1,054|1,923|11|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Dixiecrat|95|528|868|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|275|1,118|3|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|109|1,100|3|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|66|1,257|2|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|39|1,635|4|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|149|1,046|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|596|1,103|4|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|354|1,108|38|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|353|848|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|665|968|209|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|354|1,182|33|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|1,569|1,682|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|1,296|2,850|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresFoot|1896|Democratic|213|1,946|42|Arkansas}}