By Steve Keenan
Staff Writer
May 20, 2008 05:34 pm
—
On election day, Fayette County voters exhibited their faith in the four magistrates currently in office, as the incumbents headed off moves from a pair of challengers.
Incumbent Sharon McGraw, of Oak Hill, led the ticket with 5,681 votes, or 20.64 percent. McGraw is currently serving her 20th year in the magistrate court system, including magistrate the past eight years. In her campaign, she promised to weigh each decision carefully, saying that “these decisions should never be made lightly, but only after long and careful consideration.”
A close second was Fayetteville resident Danita Young. Young trailed McGraw with 5,449 votes, or 19.8 percent. Young was first appointed as a magistrate in 1996 and was elected to the post in 2000 and 2004. During the campaign, Young, who stressed her varied training for the post, promised to be available to the county residents, as well as being fair and honest.
A longtime educator, incumbent Charles Garvin, placed third with 5,033 votes, or 18.29 percent. Garvin gained a judicial appointment to the magistrate’s bench in 2005 and earned the favor of voters the next year. During the campaign, he stressed his experience, his integrity and his commitment.
Mike Parsons, a Fayetteville resident who has been in a magistrate’s chair for 20 years, nailed down the fourth and final spot with 4,943 votes, or 17.96 percent.
Oak Hill’s Ben Love, a Mountain State University student and the grandson of Sen. Shirley Love, was fifth with 3,879 votes, or 14.09 percent, and Roger Boone Sr., also of Oak Hill, was sixth with 2,540 votes, or 9.23 percent.
Canvassing on Friday saw McGraw pick up 76 votes, Young 79, Garvin 70, Parsons 77, Love 61 and Boone 36.
No Republican filed to oppose the elected quartet in November.
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County Clerk Kelvin Holliday reported no major problems during the day, although voters in the Falls View precinct did have to cast ballots using power created by a generator.
Holliday, whose county saw major tabulation delays in the 2006 election when making the change-over to a new voting system, said he thought results would be posted much quicker this year, although he still estimated final results at about 1 a.m. That’s about the time they were posted.
The county still uses a mixture of paper and electronic ballots.
By the numbers: Of the county’s 25,932 registered voters, 12,174 ballots were cast, which works out to 46.95 percent.
Turnout for Democrats was 57.04 percent, for Republicans was 33.33 percent and for the Mountain Party was 7.14 percent.
The votes will be canvassed by the Fayette County Commission Friday.
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