Beauregard Parish voters elected Tommy Robberson as police chief of the town of Merryville on Saturday, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Robberson won 53 percent, or 147 votes, in the run-off election against Randal Yawn. Yawn won 128 votes out of the total 275 votes cast.
Incumbent Robert Thompson was eliminated from the race in March.

In the second run-off election on the Beauregard Parish ballot, voters elected Vincent Labue and Danny Reynolds as Councilmen at Large for the city of DeRidder. Labue won 29 percent, or 717 Beauregard votes, while Reynolds won 28 percent, or 677 votes.

Billy R. Spikes received 26 percent of votes with 641 votes, and Lydia Reynolds received 399, or 16 percent, of the total 2,434 votes cast by Beauregard registered voters.

Voters throughout the parish also approved the continuation of a 7.85 mills tax that will continue to benefit the operations and maintenance of all Beauregard Parish libraries for the next 10 years.

Of the 2,372 votes cast in regards to the tax, 70 percent were in favor of its continuation through 2032.

The tax is expected to collect an estimated $2,400,800 each year. The millage rate reflects an .41 millage increase due to reappraisal.

According to the unofficial results, the Secretary of State’s Office estimated that 39.1 percent of registered voters cast their vote in the Merryville election, while 21.3 percent made their voices heard in the DeRidder Councilmen at Large race and 10.3 percent voted in regards to the library tax.