Doraville’s runoff to fill a vacated council seat will be held Dec. 1, separate from the attention-grabbing double U.S. Senate runoff on Jan. 5 that will decide which party controls the Senate.
Seven candidates ran to fill the council’s District 1 seat vacated by Robert Patrick, a Democrat who defeated Republican Nancy Jester for a DeKalb County commission seat. His victory ensured that Democrats control the entire county commission.
Of the seven candidates, none of them received more than 20% of the vote, let alone the majority required to avoid a runoff. Gerald Evans, a Doraville Planning Commissioner, and Julie Newman, a business owner, received the most votes and will participate in the runoff.
Mayor Joseph Geierman said there will be three days of early voting, Nov. 23 through 25, at the Voter Registration and Elections Office at 4380 Memorial Drive in Decatur. The election will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 1 at Doraville City Hall.
DeKalb’s other December runoff is an oddity that will determine who fills John Lewis' congressional seat for a few weeks until State Sen. Nikema Williams is sworn in on Jan. 3. Williams, who is not on the ballot in the special election, will be the next full-term representative from the the 5th Congressional District based in central Fulton and parts of Dekalb and Clayton counties.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger moved the runoff for Georgia Public Service Commission to Jan. 5 to match the dual Senate runoffs, but local races will still take place in December.
On Nov. 3, Doraville received 2,421 votes in the city council race. The north DeKalb city has a population of about 10,500.
Here are how the votes were cast:
• Gerald Evans, 488 votes (about 20%)
• Julie Newman, 466 votes (about 19%)
• Brett Duvall, 423 votes (about 17%)
• Shoumic Khan, 417 votes (about 17%)
• Charnette Cason Rios , 226 votes (about 11%)
• Tom Owens, 188 votes (about 8%)
• SM Abu Zahed, 187 votes (about 8%)
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