Foster wins school board seat, Smith retains spot on the bench for Probate
The election in Aragon, Cedartown and Polk County ended with new council members, a mayor and a school board seat determined by voters.
Polk County's contested school board seat for District 3 was decided by a big margin for independent challenger James "J.P." Foster, with 1,423 votes or 62.44 percent of the vote between Lake Creek and Cedartown going to Foster, and incumbent Scottie Worthington taking 856 or 37.56 percent of the vote.
Probate court Judge Linda Smith will retain her chair after defeating independent challenger Shannon McGee 61 percent to 38 percent, or 8,349 votes to 5,121 in the countywide race.
Aragon's next mayor will be Garry Baldwin as city voters picked him as the next to hold the job with 215 votes, or 58 percent, going to Baldwin and 75 votes going to Steve "Skip" Elders, or 20 percent, and another 20 percent going to Melisa Hughes, who gained 76 votes.
Debora Pittman was able to win with 174 to 170 votes over Kelsey Collum on Nov. 8 as well. Originally the Elections Director Karen Garmon had thought a runoff election might have been required, but conversations with the city and county attorneys found that home rule took precedent over state law when it came to the tally and Pittman was allowed to take her seat and be sworn in with others on Thursday, Nov. 10. (See Page 7A)
In the national races, Donald Trump won Polk County by a wide margin, garnering 11,006 to 2,863 votes for Clinton. Gary Johnson pulled in 289 votes.
The senate race saw Isakson take Polk County by a wide margin as well, as he got 10,215 votes to 2,609 over Jim Barksdale. Allen Buckley got 519 votes.