Saturday night’s election for New Iberia City Marshal resulted in a runoff between candidates Dickie Fremin and Corey Porter.

The tightly-contested race nearly finished with Fremin winning the election outright, but the final count of the night saw the local enforcement veteran garner 48 percent of the vote, or 1,593 voters who cast a ballot for him.

Porter, a former New Iberia police captain, finished in second with 34 percent of the vote, or 1,121 voters casting a ballot in his favor.

Brett Lang, the third candidate, finished with 18 percent of the vote. Unofficial turnout for the election was 17.5 percent.

Fremin and Porter will head into a general election to take place Dec. 11, where a new marshal for the city of New Iberia will be chosen by the voters.

Fremin said he was humbled and honored to be leading the votes going into the runoff election.

“Everyday on the campaign trail, the citizens told me that they wanted a candidate that would ensure credibility in the running of the Marshal’s office,” Fremin said Saturday night. “My campaign is prepared to go the distance and continue to spread the message.”

Porter said he was grateful for the win but was also disappointed in the low number of overall voters for the election.

“With only 17 percent of the city, I don’t think people really grasp how important this office is,” Porter said. “We’ll be doing everything we can to help them see for December.”

In statewide amendments, Iberia Parish voters were virtually split on an amendment to authorize streamlined electronic filing, remittance and collection of sales use tax. Fifty percent of the vote, or 3,162 residents voted yes while another 50 percent, or 3,185 voters said no to the amendment.

Most Iberia voters said yes to an amendment to lower the maximum allowed rate of income tax and allow providing a deduction for federal income taxes. Fifty-three percent of Iberia voters said yes while 47 percent said no.

An amendment to allow certain levee districts to levy an annual tax finished in the negative for Iberia Parish, with 65 percent voting no to the proposition.

Finally, an amendment to increase the amount of allowed reduction to certain dedicated funds when a budget deficit is projected also finished in the negative for Iberia. Seventy-six percent of the voters said no to the proposition.