Habersham election returns: Palmer defeated, all other local incumbents win

Voters cast their ballots Tuesday afternoon at the Habersham North precinct in the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center. (Jerry Neace/NowHabersham.com)

Habersham County will have one new commissioner on the board next year. Bruce Palmer lost a three-person race for the District 1 seat in the Republican primary.

Unofficial primary election returns show Kelly Woodall won 38% of the vote to Eric Holbrooks’ 31.08%. Palmer claimed 30.72% of the vote.

Since no one got more than 50%, Woodall and Holbrooks will face each other in a runoff on June 18.

No Democrats qualified to run for local office in Habersham County.

Palmer was the only incumbent to face defeat on Tuesday. District 4 County Commissioner Bruce Harkness and District 5 Commissioner Ty Akins both won reelection. Doug Westmoreland and Robert Barron retained their seats on the Board of Education.

Below are the unofficial returns from the Habersham County Board of Elections.

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 1
w/6 of 6 precincts reporting
Bruce Palmer (I)  30.72%   1,687 votes
Eric Holbrooks     31.08%   1,707
Kelly Woodall       38.20%   2,098

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 4
w/6 of 6 precincts reporting
Bruce Harkness (I)  70.02%   3,889
Wade Rhodes          29.98%   1,665

COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 5
w/6 of 6 precincts reporting
Ty Akins (I)        58.38%   3,158
Locke Arnold      22.89%   1,238
Gisela McGugan  18.73%   1,013

BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICT 1
w/6 of 6 precincts reporting
Doug Westmoreland (I)  55.60%   3,053
Brett Barden                  44.40%    2,438

BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICT 2
w/6 of 6 precincts reporting
Robert Barron (I)  54.72%   3,006
Ernie Garrett         45.28%  2,487

This article was updated to reflect that there will be a runoff in the District 1 Habersham County Commission race