Anderson, Reaves in BOC 1 runoff; Cooper takes School Board 8
by Robin Kemp
UPDATE 10:47 p.m.: recap
Former School Board District 8 member Dr. Alieka Anderson led the ten-candidate field in the Board of Commissioners District 1 special election. Democratic Party of Georgia and Washington veteran Alaina Reaves was her closest competitor. Development Authority of Clayton County Board Chair Regina Deloach came in third.
The final results were delivered to the “bunker” at 9:30 p.m. by a Clayton County Police officer and an Elections and Registration official. Elections staff broke the seals and unlocked the red zippered bags, each of which contained a computer card from a precinct. Staff uploaded the data on those cards to the Secretary of State’s website, which instantly publishes the results on its website. That feed also appeared on the Clayton County Elections and Registration homepage in two formats: as a static webpage and as a scrolling one.
All numbers are unofficial until certified.
At 9:41:22 p.m., the results were as follows:
BOC 1 Primary
2,336 total votes were cast in the BOC 1 race. Of those, Anderson won 921, or 39.43%. Next was Reaves, with 529 or 22.65%. Deloach followed with 385 votes or 16.48%. In fourth place was Shegale Crute Thurmond with 236 votes or 10.10%. Junior Jackson took fifth place with 84 votes or 3.6%. Hackwin Devoe was in sixth place with 67 votes or 2.87%. Ernest Strozier came in seventh with 43 votes or 1.84%. Debra Dozier-King was in eighth place with 42 votes or 1.8%. Thomas Pough took ninth place with 15 votes or 0.64%. Jae S. Brown finished tenth with 14 votes or 0.6%.
School Board 8
In the School Board District 8 race, with 1,193 votes cast, Joy Tellis Cooper won with 744 votes or 62.36%. Longtime PTSA officer Arvis Walker got 449 votes or 37.64%.
Breaking it down
Turnout can only be described as abysmal.
Of the 43,992 registered voters in 18 precincts for the BOC District 1 election, 2,357 ballots were cast–that’s only 5.36% of registered voters in District 1. That means 94.64% of District 1 voters did not take part in the primary. Here’s a breakdown by precinct:
- Ellenwood 1: 250
- Ellenwood 2: 305
- Forest Park 2: 72
- Forest Park 4: 48
- Forest Park 6: 51
- Jonesboro 8: 73
- Lake City: 112
- Morrow 1: 139
- Morrow 2: 124
- Morrow 3: 110
- Morrow 4: 84
- Morrow 5: 240
- Morrow 6: 159
- Morrow 7: 61
- Morrow 8: 166
- Morrow 9: 62
- Morrow 10: 166
- Morrow 11: 114
In the School Board 8 race, which covered nine precincts and where 1,193 ballots were cast, here’s the turnout by precinct:
- Ellenwood 1: 249
- Ellenwood 2: 302
- Forest Park 2: 30
- Lake City: 111
- Morrow 1: 137
- Morrow 3: 108
- Morrow 5: 134
- Morrow 10: 9
- Morrow 11: 113
Overall, turnout by precinct was highest in Ellenwood 1 (8.34%), Morrow 5 (8.05%), and Morrow 2 (6.23%).
These were the the latest election results in the BOC District 1 and School Board District 8 races as of 8:38 p.m.
BOC 1
With 7 of 18 precincts reporting, Aleika Anderson is in the lead with 40.08% or 677 votes, followed by Alaina Reaves at 21.14% or 357 votes, and Regina Deloach at 16.34% or 276 votes:
School Board 8
With 33.33% of precincts reporting, Joy Tellis Cooper is ahead with 61.46% or 504 votes, while Arvis Walker trails at 38.54% or 316 votes:
