Habersham County voters have elected Ty Akins as their new District 5 commissioner, with Akins receiving 65% of the vote. Akins will succeed Tim Stamey who resigned from the board of commissioners earlier this year for health reasons.
“I feel great,” Akins told Now Habersham after the votes were counted. “I’m very happy to have the opportunity to serve Habersham County and the community I love.”
The Tuesday runoff election was marked by low voter turnout; Akins received 836 votes to runoff opponent Jason Hogan’s 480. The Elections Office counted a total of 1,321 ballots cast, less than 5 percent of Habersham County’s registered voter population.
RELATED: Runoff election voting going smoothly in District 5, despite some bumps
“The sad part is, that’s somewhat expected,” Habersham North Poll Manager Steve Lindley said. “. . . A lot of people might not turn out with just two names on the ballot.”
Early voting and absentee voting made up nearly half of the election results, with a total of 610 early and absentee ballots making up the runoff results. The number of voters participating in the runoff election was even lower than the municipal and special elections at the beginning of the month, which saw around 2,675 voters.
Election results are currently “unofficial and incomplete” and will be certified on Friday, at which point the results will become final. Akins will join the commission in January of 2022.
