Gerald Evans, Credit: City of Doraville
By Zachary Hansen
Gerald Evans, a Doraville planning commissioner, looks poised to win a runoff for a Doraville City Council seat according to early vote totals, but it’s unclear how many are left to count.
Evans and business owner Julie Newman received the most votes among a crowded field during the November general election, leading to a Dec. 1 runoff to fill the council’s District 1 seat.
Julie Newman, Credit: City of Doraville
The council seat was vacated by Robert Patrick, a Democrat who defeated Republican Nancy Jester for a DeKalb County commission seat, ensuring that Democrats control the entire council commission.
DeKalb County has currently tallied 358 votes in the runoff election, with Evans receiving nearly 78% of them. Only one early vote was listed among the count and no absentee ballots were tallied, so it’s unclear how many total votes were cast in the runoff election. DeKalb has not updated the vote count since 11 p.m. Tuesday night.
Doraville Mayor Joseph Geierman said on Facebook that there are absentee ballots left to count, adding that, “Elections are full of surprises, but it’ll take a big shift in the wind to change this result.”
There are more than 4,300 registered voters in Doraville, a city with a population of more than 10,000. That means the votes of only about 8.3% of registered voters have been counted so far. In comparison, more than 63% of registered voters cast a ballot in the city council race in November — a total of 2,752 votes.
Seven candidates ran in initial Doraville city council seat race, with Evans receiving 20% of the vote and Newman receiving 19% of the vote. The runoff was one of three local races to prompt a Dec. 1 runoff, which includes the runoff to fill John Lewis’ congressional seat for a few weeks until State Sen. Nikema Williams is sworn in on Jan. 3. Former Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall was declared the runoff winner, meaning he’ll complete the final month of Lewis’ term in Washington.
The attention-grabbing dual senate runoffs will take place Jan. 5, along with a runoff for Public Service Commissioner.
Read the original story on AJC.com.
