With all ballots counted in DeKalb County, incumbent Melody Maddox barely clinched the Democratic nomination for sheriff, while the District 1 and 6 Board of Commissioners races are still headed to runoffs.
Results from the June 9 primary election were long delayed by mail-in ballots and other issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, with final tallies available June 19. The runoff elections will be held Aug. 11.
While Maddox earlier appeared to be headed to a runoff in the seven-way race for the Democrat nomination, she ultimately received 51.36% of the votes. Maddox will face Republican Harold Dennis, who ran unopposed in the primary, in the November general election. The winner will assume the sheriff’s position for the next four-year term starting in 2021.
Maddox also won a simultaneous special election to serve out the current term. She was appointed to the position in November 2019 after former Sheriff Jeff Mann retired after pleading guilty to committing “prohibited conduct” in a park in 2017. That special election originally was scheduled for March, but was postponed due to the pandemic to coincide with the June 9 primary.
In District 1, the Democratic race to pick a challenger for Republican incumbent Nancy Jester is going to a runoff. Cynthia Yaxon had 34% of the votes and Robert Patrick followed closely with 33%. The winner of the runoff will face Jester in the general election for a chance to become the commissioner of the north DeKalb area, which includes Dunwoody, Brookhaven and Doraville.
The commission election for Super District 6, which makes up half of the county, will also go into a runoff for the Democratic nominee. Edward “Ted” Terry led the three primary candidates with 38% of votes followed by Maryam Ahmad with 35%.
The District 6 seat has no Republican candidates and current commissioner Kathie Gannon decided not to run again, so whoever wins the runoff will assume the position in January.
These voting results include all Election Day, early voting, absentee and provisional ballots. About 197,000 people voted in the primary, which is 37% of all registered voters in the county.