Watkinsville Voters Overwhelmingly Pick Garrett For Council Post 1 In Special Election

Chuck Garrett overwhelmingly defeated Carolyn Maultsby in the Watkinsville special election on Tuesday to fill Post 1 on the Watkinsville City Council.

Only 89 voters went to the polls on Tuesday, and final turnout in the election was only 18.3 percent.

Brian Brodrick received all of the eligible votes in the special election for mayor as Peter Steckel, the only other candidate who had qualified, withdrew from the race. Brodrick received 333 votes to 35 recorded for Steckel.

Garrett received 80.6 percent of the 294 votes cast in advanced voting, all seven of the absentee ballots returned, and 60.7 percent of the votes cast on election day itself.

Background

The Watkinsville special election was the result of Bob Smith’s abrupt decision in March to step down as mayor.

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Council elected Post 1 Council Member Brodrick to serve as Acting Mayor.

Brodrick then announced he would run for mayor in the special election, freeing up Post 1 as well.

The races were nonpartisan, and both the Post 1 and mayor position will be up for election again in November.

Garrett, 63, of 25 South Main Street, is a sales manager.

Maultsby, 56, of 1050 Taylor’s Drive, is a book keeper.

Turnout

Going into early voting, the county office of Election and Registration, which ran the election for the city of Watkinsville, listed the number of active and inactive voters in he city of Watkinsville as 2,247.

As a result of the election process, the number of active voters was listed as 2,145, and turnout was officially 18.3 percent.

A total of 392 ballots were cast, but two of those voters did not cast a ballot in the Post 1 Council race.

The 89 ballots cast on election day represented only 22.7 percent of the total, meaning that 77.3 percent of the voters chose to participate in some form of early voting.