Two incumbents win but many races will have runoffs

An incumbent judge and a county commissioner easily won their re-election campaigns Tuesday, but other races were undecided. An open seat on the Superior Court and four seats on the county school board appeared headed for a runoff election Dec. 2.

The clear winners were 17-year incumbent Superior Court Judge Linda Hunter, who had more than a 2-to-1 advantage over Decatur attorney Tom Stubbs with 98.5 percent of precincts counted.

With 93 percent of precincts counted in DeKalb’s county commission District 1, Republican incumbent Elaine Boyer had a commanding lead over Democrat Larry Danese.

Voters also approved 2-to-1 a referendum removing the power of the county’s chief executive officer to preside over and set the agendas for county commission meetings.

With between 90 percent and 97 percent of precincts counted in four school board races, candidates who appeared headed for runoffs were Ella Smith and Don McChesney in District 2; Paul Womack and Shayna Steinfeld in District 4; Pam Speaks and Pamela Buncum in District 8; and Ernest Brown and Eugene Walker in District 9.

In the Superior Court race, ex-prosecutor Tangela Barrie led in a three-way contest, with administrative law judge Johnny Mason a distant second and a mere percentage point ahead of recorders court judge R. Joy Walker.