Wayne Allen

Republican Wayne Allen is set to serve as the next constable for Smith County Pct. 2 after sailing to victory in the primary runoff.

In Tuesday’s runoff race against Chris Roberts, the majority of Smith County voters chose Allen to lead the precinct in Tuesday’s election.

According to unofficial election results, Allen earned 2,212 votes, or 61%, while Roberts received 1,413 votes, or 39%.

Allen will look to restore integrity to the precinct after former Pct. 2 Constable Joshua Black was found guilty in September of using his position to request sexual favors from a woman who was asking for supervised visitation with her child. Black was sentenced to six months in the Smith County Jail, fined $4,000 and removed from office.

Shawn Scott, a retired law enforcement officer, has served as interim constable.

“We’re excited to continue the leadership that Constable Scott has started and the things that he has changed,” Allen said after the victory on Tuesday night. “We plan to continue in the right direction and we just look forward to serving the citizens of Precinct 2.”

Allen said he appreciates everyone who came out and voted.

“There’s a lot of people, obviously too many to mention, but lots of people that came out and supported through donations, through working the polls for us, through making calls, text, emails, inviting people out to vote and most importantly praying,” Allen said. “They all came through so we appreciate every single one of them.”

Roberts did not immediately answer for comment on Tuesday night.

Allen also led in the primary, earning about 48% of the votes compared to Roberts’ 28%.

In Tuesday’s primary runoff, unofficial election result show a 7.3% voter turnout. Of 151,926 voters, a total of 11,085 ballots were cast with the majority coming in on election day. There were 1,207 absentee ballots cast along with 3,787 votes cast during early voting and 6,091 cast on election day, according to the county.

Allen, who faces no Democratic challenger on the November ballot, worked for the Tyler Police Department for 28 years and previously told the Tyler Morning Telegraph that during that time, he often considered running for a county office in which he could better serve the community.

For the past three years, Allen has been district manager at Home Depot, where he supervises more than 1,000 associates, he said.

When Black was arrested, Allen said he “felt a stirring to get back into law enforcement.”

Allen said he looks to be there for the public and bring back integrity, transparency and professionalism to the Pct. 2 constable office.

With his experience, Allen said, “I’ve proven in the 28 actual years that I’ve worked at Tyler PD that I can serve with integrity.”

Editor’s note: Visit tylerpaper.com for the full list of unofficial election results in Smith County.