August 6th Election Has Low Voter Turnout

Of Wayne County’s 10,328 registered voters, only 2,300, or 22.27%, turned out to vote in last Thursday’s County General/State and Federal Primary/Waynesboro Municipal Election. The low voter turnout can at least be partially attributed to the fact that many of the county’s incumbents were unopposed on the August 6th ballot, and many seats on the Wayne County Commission were narrowed down to only two candidates after the May 5th Republican Primary Election.

Early and absentee voting saw 1,133 casting their votes early versus 1,167 voting on Election Day. Wayne County also repeated its history of voting Republican; in the Tennessee Governor’s race, 2,056 voted for a candidate on the Republican ticket, while only 181 voted on the Democrat ticket.

While the Governor’s Primary race was fairly close among the three candidates on the Republican ticket, those voting on the Democrat ticket voted overwhelmingly (78%) for Jerri Green. Green’s closest contender was Carnita Atwater, who had only 20 votes as opposed to Green’s 142 votes. On the Republican ticket, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn received 799 votes (39%). Monty Fritts came in second with 708 votes (34%), and John Rose came in third with 547 votes (27%).

Below is a breakdown of how the winning candidates in the Federal and State Elections performed in Wayne County on the Republican and Democrat tickets:

U.S. Senate: Bill Hagerty (R)-unopposed, Marquita Bradshaw (D) 46%

U.S. House of Representatives District 9: Brent Taylor (R) 40%, Justin Pearson (D) 57%

TN House of Representatives District 71: Kip Capley (R)-unopposed, Matt Day (D)-unopposed

The County General Election was of decidedly the most interest among Wayne Countians. The office of County Executive will see John McDonald sworn in this week to the top seat in the county. McDonald won the Republican Primary Election in May, defeating Colby Staggs, Phillip Casteel, and current County Executive Jim Mangubat. McDonald was unopposed on the August 6th ballot.

The Wayne County Commission will have many new faces after this week’s swearing-in ceremony. Eleven of the fourteen County Commissioners will be new to the job, with only three incumbents choosing to run again and elected to remain on the Commission: Logan Shull, David Martin, and Alvin Creecy.

In District 1, only two candidates were on the ballot for the two Commission seats, Paxton Prince and Logan Shull. Both candidates ran on the Republican ticket. Prince is new to the Wayne County Commission, while Shull will be going into his second term.

District 2 only had two candidates on the ballot, but both in District 2 are new to the County Commission. Both candidates, Randy Burns and Jake Littrell, ran as Independents.

The County Commissioner District 3 race saw one Republican, David “Shorty” Horner, on the ballot against three Independent candidates, Caleb Cummings, Charity Horton, and Joe Kent. Horner received the most votes (258), with Cummings receiving 185 votes, Horton coming in with 111 votes, and Kent receiving 40 votes. Horner and Cummings will be sworn in to the two District 3 seats.

District 4 was another district that had only two candidates on the ballot. Josh Davis and Gunner Rich, both of whom ran as Republicans, will be sworn into the two District 4 seats.

In District 5, there were two Republicans on the ballot, Victoria Lanier and Daniel Potete, and two Independents, Jeremy Robbins and Derrek Sherrill. Coming out on top were Potete with 180 votes and Lanier with 172 votes. The two Independent candidates defeated by Lanier and Potete were Sherrill, who received 113 votes, and Robbins, who received 65 votes.

District 6 only had two candidates on the ballot, Rickey Wright and incumbent County Commissioner David Martin, who has served several terms. Both candidates ran on the Republican ticket.

In District 7, there were three candidates on the ballot vying for the two seats: Ronnie Hobbs, Eric Warren, and incumbent County Commissioner Alvin Creecy. Creecy, running as a Republican, received the most votes (239), securing his seat on the commission. The other two candidates, both of whom ran as Independents, were separated by only two votes: Hobbs received 147 votes, and Warren received 145. Hobbs will be sworn in to the second seat on the Commission.

Two seats on the School Board, District 2 and District 5, saw one candidate on the ballot for each district running unopposed: newcomer Chelsea Prince in District 5 and incumbent Mark Staggs in District 2. Both candidates ran on the Independent ticket. Staggs and Prince will be sworn in to the two School Board seats later this week.

In the race for Circuit Court Clerk, Carol Warren defeated Emily Maghielse in the Republican Primary, making incumbent Warren the only candidate on the August ballot and therefore retaining the seat.

The race for County Court Clerk saw Ronnie Skelton defeating Jessica Columbia in the Republican Primary, making Skelton the only candidate on the ballot for the seat in the General Election. Skelton will be sworn in as Wayne County Clerk following the retirement of long-time County Clerk Stan Horton.

Several county office races had only incumbent candidates running unopposed. Those unopposed county office races were County Trustee, Sheila Rich; Sheriff, Shane Fisher; Register of Deeds, Tyler Strait; and Road Superintendent, Chuck Moser. All four ran as Republicans.

Three seats on the Waynesboro City Commission were on the ballot. The three candidates in that race are all current Waynesboro City Commissioners and were unopposed for the three seats on the ballot: Jeff Howell, who received 217 votes; Chris Bevis, who received 209 votes; and Tony Creasy, who received 201 votes.

All candidates elected to county offices are set to be sworn in on Thursday, August 13th, at the Wayne County Administrative Building/former courthouse at 6:00 pm.

The winners in the State and Federal Primary Elections will face off in the State/Federal General Election on November 3rd. The Clifton and Collinwood Municipal Elections will also be on the November ballot.