For the third four-year cycle in a row, voter turnout in a Vicksburg general election declined Tuesday.

Based on names listed on poll books, 39 percent or slightly more than one in three people eligible to vote did so.

In raw numbers, 7,166 ballots were cast, about 1,000 fewer than four years ago and about 2,500 fewer than the highest recorded turnout in 1993.

Even the mayoral winner lost ground, with Laurence Leyens taking 343 fewer votes this year than in winning his first term in 2001.

Unofficial tallies show Leyens won the same precincts as four years ago and picked up two more, the No. 7 Fire Station and the St. Aloysius boxes. He also won in every precinct in the city’s South Ward.

The top vote-getters were separated by 1,180 votes with Charles Selmon coming in second. Numbers show he polled best in those precincts in the county’s District 3 where he has been supervisor for nine years.

His best numbers were at the American Legion precinct, where he took 693 votes and his best percentage was at Vicksburg Junior High School, where he took 68 percent of the vote.

Overall, Selmon received 855 fewer votes than the second place candidate four years ago.

It was at the Kings precinct where, although he didn’t win a majority of the votes, Leyens said he felt the proudest of his results.

“I doubled my numbers from four years ago,” Leyens said. “That’s what’s most impressive to me.”

Four years ago, Leyens took only 64 votes at Kings, but Tuesday he received 157. He also almost doubled his number at the City Auditorium, where he went from 165 to 275 votes.

Joe Loviza saw a slight increase in his numbers, taking 12 more votes this year over four years ago, and Shirley Smollen took 1 percent of the vote and 14 fewer than the fourth place candidate in 2001.

Ward lines were changed to balance populations between elections. Still, adjusting for the city’s redistricting, numbers show 732 fewer ballots were cast in the South Ward.

North Ward turnout was down about 392 votes.

Primary voting and the runoff turnout had been described as dismal with 4,298 ballots cast in the May 3 election and 3,173 on May 17.

Poll books list about 18,380 names of registered voters in the city. The largest-ever turnout in Warren County was for a 1992 referendum on riverboat gambling.