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
