Patti Garrett Wins Open District 2 Seat; Boykin, Wilson & Wisniewski Win Reelection
Decatur Metro | November 3, 2009UPDATE IV: Rob Pope’s concession note…
Good Morning Decatur,
Thanks for a great race and for your interest in all the issues on school board.
It couldn’t have been much closer in my race and I appreciate all the support and discourse over the past few months.
As I told Valarie last night, Congratulations and thanks for keeping the race positive and upbeat.
I look forward to working with the School Board on all the issues our city and students must address. As for me, I will still be reading in the classroom, tutoring, helping with science, working with our phenomenal teachers and students on math skills, and coaching soccer! I look forward to continuing my work on the Clairemont School Leadership Team and getting even more involved in the Charter process with all the SLTs.
My thanks go out to the amazing volunteers that helped my campaign. I couldn’t have gotten anywhere without their help. Just remember, we are not done. There is great work ahead for City Schools of Decatur and we need to all stay involved and engaged to make it work for all of us. My message is still the same, More and Better Communication, Empower the SLTs and Utilize the Charter System, and true Financial Responsibility. Keep up the efforts for all our children and citizens!
Thank you for the opportunity to listen to you, hear your concerns, and actually try to make sure they were voiced. See in the schools and around town (Decatur Terrific Thursdays!). Don’t hesitate to contact me ar rob@robpope.org in the future.
Sincerely,
Rob Pope
UPDATE III: Garrett Goebel’s concession note…
Thank you all for the unforgettable experience of running for school board.
I have just received the official call. I received 46% of the vote.
I congratulate Marc on his re-election. I look forward to working with him. I look forward to getting back into the schools and the classrooms and working together to help improve the education we provide for every child.
I would like to thank everyone that donated their time, effort, advice and money. I have been amazed by how far we came together. I hope we can take this energy and direct it back into our schools and our community. Thank you for the honor of representing your voice.
Garrett
UPDATE II: WSB now has Wilson up 1407 to 1381 even though it previously said all precients had reported.
UPDATE: Yep, Wilson won by 20 votes. 1284 to 1264.
CSD Mom reports from the frontlines…
valarie by 20 votes, patti, marc, fred are winners.
We’ll need to determine whether that means Valarie Wilson also won re-election. Also, we’ll need to wait for the breakdown.
WSB seems best for updates.
Latest from Decaturish
1264 rob, 1284 valarie
Yep. That’s what WSB is showing as well. Many thanks for the quick updates CSD Mom!
Just read a very nice concession letter from Garrett. Very classy indeed sir.
Sorry for the brevity of my posts! I was typing on the TINY keyboard on my phone! Longer night than I expected.
Save your Rob Pope signs! Please email Rob and he will come pick them up.
Agreed!
I haven’t seen any results showing the Patti vs. Kyle race with more than 8% of precincts in. How has she been declared the winner? Can anyone point me in the right direction?
The 8% of precincts is flat-out wrong. If you note, they’re saying that there are 50 total precincts in the 2nd district. I trust CSD Mom’s report because she was at the county offices when the votes came in.
Patti won – we got the official results from the city at U-Joint earlier tonight.
I must say this entire election has been nothing but a class act. Each candidate brought something to the table; there were some differences in opinion as always but the differences seemed to be respected by the opposition. Most of all, all of the candidates are truly good people who went after the position because they thought they were the best person for the job and they felt they could, and would, work to make Decatur a better place to live. Congratulations to the winners. There were really no losers in this election. I am sure that those who did not receive the majority of the vote will continue to work in the community to make Decatur an even better place to live, work, and raise our children. Thanks to each of you for putting yourself out there!
Amen.
You said it better than I could have my friend.
Fox5 is reporting that Rob won over Valarie 1350 to 1334. http://media.myfoxatlanta.com/election/race206.html
It appears that 50% was exceeded in every race. Perhaps the comment was a proposal for a recount.
My sense is that our city elections are not run independently by the city, but by the DeKalb elections office, per Georgia law. Those procedures are probably the operative ones.
Okay, i’ve got it cleared up. Fox 5 has the wrong numbers. the total is 1381 Rob to 1407 Valarie. http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/voter/pdf/result110309.pdf
Hopefully this is a wake-up call to the CSD School Board and CSD administration. This year, the School Board races were contested, the challengers came within 20 and 150 votes each of winning even though they are new to Decatur politics, and the 33% increased voter turnout indicates interest in the issues. If the city had a process with runoffs and recounts, the election would not yet be over. Voters have indicated that incumbents need to work hard and listen to their constitutents to keep their seats. In two years, the election may be even more competitive.
Meanwhile, we have on tape committments from incumbents that School Leadership Teams made up of parents, teachers, community members, and principals should use their mandated power and authority, that funding exists for enrichment during the breaks that come with the new school calendar, and that they will not resign before the end of their term. As voters, we need to hold them to their stated promises.
“If the city had a process with runoffs and recounts, the election would not yet be over. ”
CSC Snowflake, what does this mean? Did someone not exceed a 50% count?
Good point. I’m tired–too many election parties. You need three candidates for a runoff. And more info has come in indicating that the difference in vote counts is 26 votes, not 20. And recounts don’t really make sense with electronic voting if the tallying is automatic. I should have stuck with the concept that it would be hard for an election to be much closer.
And huge props to Decatur Metro for keeping involved residents informed, and getting less-involved ones more plugged in to the process.
When are you going to start selling t-shirts to defray the time cost and to give DMfans a chance to show the love?
Thanks Golazo! T-shirts probably won’t pay the bills, but they’re definitely a good idea for free publicity! I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Soon, soon!
FYI, a majority is not necessary to win a Decatur City election. That is governed by the City charter, which only requires a plurality. There has never been a runoff in a Decatur election because it is not required. Other jurisdictions (e.g. Atlanta) have different rules because their charters are different.
And, although, for logistical reasons, Decatur elections are conducted by DeKalb County, the rules are Decatur rules, not County rules.
I be interested if Decatur Metro could get a breakdown of the School Board race results by voting site (what is that called? A precinct?). I think, but don’t know, that the candidates got the breakdown; they might be willing to share. If there’s differences by neighborhood that would help the Board, CSD, specific schools, and newly-empowered school leadership teams understand where there are frustrations or other perspectives and then they could pinpoint some ways to address them.
I agree, that would be useful info.
The detailed breakdown will be available from the county on Friday after the results are certified.
There’s a detailed breakdown now at the DeKalb County website. It’s pretty hard to find. If you click on the obvious link, you get 2008 election results, not 2009. So click on http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/voter/pdf/SOVC110309.pdf. Then you have to scroll down the page about 3/4 of the way to get to Decatur results.
Here’s my review of the School Board election results after looking precinct by precinct:
Turnout:
Clairemont East: 26%
Clairemont West: 20%
Glennwood: 13%
Oakhurst: 25%
Ponce: 13%
Renfroe: 26%
Winnona Park: 28%
So while voter turnout was kind of weak overall (but substantially increased over the last municipal election’s turnout of 15% citywide), it’s Glennwood and Ponce that stand out as having the lowest turnouts, which matches what people were reporting from the polls on Election Day. Don’t ask me what the difference is between what areas go to Clairemont East vs West. The two polling places are churches right across the street from one another.
Garrett vs Marc:
Clairemont East: Marc won
Clairemont West: Garrett won by a hair
Glennwood: Marc won
Ponce: Marc won
There were only 32 absentee votes split pretty evenly so they didn’t make a difference.
Only one write-in vote.
If Clairemont West could have had a better voter turnout than only 20%, they might have influenced the election more. Marc clearly won but I would recommend that he find out what the issues are for Clairemont West voters.
Rob vs Valarie:
Clairemont East: Rob overwhelmingly won
Clairemont West: Rob won
Glennwood: Rob won by a hair
Oakhurst: Valarie overwhelmingly won
Ponce: Valerie won by a hair
Renfroe: Valerie won
Winnona Park: Valerie won
On polling night, Rob won by 16 votes, 1350 to 1334.
But there were 105 absentee votes, 31 for Rob and 73 for Valarie and one for a write-in.
Total write-in votes were only 6.
So in my opinion, the early/absentee votes were the deciding factor in this very close race. If Clairemont West, Ponce, and Glennwood, which had the three lowest turnouts had been able to get more voters out, they clearly could have tipped the election one way or another. I recommend that Valarie seek to understand the issues for the half of the voters who didn’t vote for her as well the issues for the half that did.
Bernadette Seals got 997 votes with the most write-in votes: 18.
For the next School Board election, I’d recommend that candidates work harder on influencing earlier in the campaign, before the absentee and early votes go in, and on getting the vote out. Oh, and the issues are important too…
I have heard that members of Valarie’s campaign actively went door to door helping people vote early by absentee. Seems to have worked!
Contested elections are healthy for a democracy, and yesterday was a good day for Decatur. Real issues came forward and were discussed, and that’s all for the good. WHen so many votes by the Commission and Board are unanimous, this is a good reminder that there is diverse opinion out there.
It will interesting to see how these votes are interpreted. Can we get some local punditry going here? A good day for incumbents? A message sent? How do people see these results?
I read it two ways. First, I’d say the winners reflect that, overall, voters are pleased with our city and schools, how they’re run, their accomplishments and paths moving forward. Even the challengers held many similar positions. There were differences, certainly, but there was no polarizing, throw-the-bums-out issue on the table this year.
Second, I read the higher than usual voter turnout as an indicator that, while supportive overall, people are not complacent or sitting back waiting to be served. They’re active and engaged and intend to hold the candidates to a high, responsive standard. For all the winners, they have been given a vote of confidence but not carte blanche. There are high expectations for results.
Good Morning Decatur,
Thanks for a great race and for your interest in all the issues on school board.
It couldn’t have been much closer in my race and I appreciate all the support and discourse over the past few months.
As I told Valarie last night, Congratulations and thanks for keeping the race positive and upbeat.
I look forward to working with the School Board on all the issues our city and students must address. As for me, I will still be reading in the classroom, tutoring, helping with science, working with our phenomenal teachers and students on math skills, and coaching soccer! I look forward to continuing my work on the Clairemont School Leadership Team and getting even more involved in the Charter process with all the SLTs.
My thanks go out to the amazing volunteers that helped my campaign. I couldn’t have gotten anywhere without their help. Just remember, we are not done. There is great work ahead for City Schools of Decatur and we need to all stay involved and engaged to make it work for all of us. My message is still the same, More and Better Communication, Empower the SLTs and Utilize the Charter System, and true Financial Responsibility. Keep up the efforts for all our children and citizens!
Thank you for the opportunity to listen to you, hear your concerns, and actually try to make sure they were voiced. See in the schools and around town (Decatur Terrific Thursdays!). Don’t hesitate to contact me ar in the future.
Sincerely,
Rob Pope
Garrett
I haven’t found the complete breakdown yet but found out more info. Of interest, evidently Rob Pope won over Valarie Wilson by 16 votes at the polls yesterday but lost through the absentee/early voting ballots which must have had 42 more votes for Valarie if I’m doing my math correctly. It shows that:
1. In local elections, the early and absentee ballots can make a difference
2. Candidate forums like the wonderful ones done by Decatur EdTV and in Oakhurst should be held before the early voting starts.
3. The counting of hardcopy ballots must be scrupulously run and the review panel should be objective and not associated with a campaign, so that the candidates and voters feel comfortable with the results.
The counting of hardcopy ballots must be scrupulously run and the review panel should be objective and not associated with a campaign, so that the candidates and voters feel comfortable with the results.
What are you implying CSD Snowflake?
She’s not implying anything! The two people who were appointed to the review panel by city of Decatur were clearly associated with Valarie’s campaign, and one is married to a current school board member. In my mind, this is not an objective process and I am trying to find out what the guidelines are for appointments to the review panel.
I certainly don’t think anything improper happened, by any means, but I do agree that the review panel should be made up of people who are more objective than that.
And I agree–this is one of those times when you realize that EVERY VOTE COUNTS!
I thought DeKalb County handled the election. What exactly is the process here? What is the job of this two-member review panel?
From what I understand, each municipality appoints two people to the review panel, whose job is to review any challenged votes (meaning any “hanging chads, so to speak). My guess is that they would only review early and absentee votes since the other votes are electronic. There was also a 2-person review panel from Doraville there.
Early voting is by machine the same as on election day. Absentee voting is by paper ballot.
Good Afternoon –
As a point of clarification, the Cityof Decatur does not appoint anyone to a voting review committee. We contract with the DeKalb County Board of Elections to handle all aspects of the process. We had one staff person at the Board of Elections headquarters on Memorial Drive. She was there representing the City Clerk so that we could get information to post at City Hall and place on the website. I believe that campaign committees can have poll watchers and election watchers present during the ballot count and it is possible that is who was there but there was no one appointed by the City to supervise the ballot count.