Marion County voters return incumbents to office, while a new Garcia will head to Charleston
Nov. 5—FAIRMONT — Marion County voters turned out for the Tuesday General Election in historic numbers setting a new percentage of 65.17% voter turnout.
Marion County Humane Society Director Jona Spatafore hoped the record numbers would put the agency's levy over the top unlike the heartbreak that took place in the May Primary Election.
"I was so confident last time," Spatafore said. "I just knew, it was like, 'oh they're going to take care of us. We've got this.' And then we didn't."
The levy passed with 60.28% of the vote, barely surpassing the 60% threshold.
Spatafore was one of several people watching election results roll in at the Marion County Election Center on Election Night. Republicans maintained control of Marion County, with Del. Mike DeVault, Del. Phil Mallow and County Commissioner Ernie VanGilder maintaining their seats.
Devault received 5,032 votes to challenger Frankie Delapas' 2,000. Mallow received 4,037 votes to challenger Stephanie Tomana's 3,254. Rick Garcia captured 2,838 votes to challenger Jon Dodds' 2,808.
Rick Garcia will fill Joey Garcia's District 76 seat in the W.Va. House of Delegates winning by a razor thin margin. Republicans Mary Allen and Jason Smith won their races for Circuit Clerk and County Assessor respectively.
"West Virginia is starting to change economically," DeVault said. "We're seeing it in the state. We're seeing it in accounting. I'm real excited for the next two to four years."
Commissioner VanGilder criticized his coverage from the Times West Virginian during early voting and before election day. However, Marion County residents still saw fit to entrust him with another term.
"Appreciate the citizens of the county having faith in me, and not paying attention to all the nonsense was printed in the paper," VanGilder said. "Certainly happy about winning my election, but I don't think my election here at the county is the most important one. The most important one to be for Donald Trump in the nation, I want to go home and root for him."
However, Joey Garcia had a big night. He beat his opponent, Rebecca Polis, to represent West Virginia Senate District 13, which covers Marion and Monongalia counties. Garcia won 14,415 votes, while Polis won 11,590 votes.
"I'm honored people of Marion and Mon County trusted me to represent them and I am excited to go to Charleston to work on issues that matter to them," Joey Garcia said. "It's about stay, rebuild, succeed and keeping people here and bringing them back home."
Candidates huddled with groups of their supporters as county clerk employees handed copies of election results out periodically.
Early voting set the tone in the room.
Tom Mainella, former Fairmont mayor, told a group of reporters and candidates early voting has a powerful impact on election results. VanGikder's opponent, Sherman Sapp, said he was getting his beaten.
Early on, Daniel K. Weber mounted a 10-point lead over Councilmember Gia Deasy. As the night wore on, the results became more solid. With 48 of 65 precincts counted, Deasy huddled with Mayor Anne Bolyard and Council Member Julie Sole. Only 500 votes separated her and Weber.
Deasy had a matter of fact approach to the early results.
"This is not stressful, I don't compare that at all," she said. "This is just work that needs to be done and so you're really eager to do that and move on. It's not like the presidential election or statewide races."
Deasy lost her seat to Weber by the end of the night.
Elsewhere, Jason Smith won his race for County Assessor. However, he was also keeping an eye on the Marion County Humane Society Levy, which was still tottering precariously over the 60% threshold it needed to pass. He said he wished more people would recognize the Humane Society provided a great service, one that affected all residents in keeping the amount of stray animals down.
That said, Smith was elated when he won.
Earlier in the day, Rebecca Polis seemed sanguine about her chances. As she waved her sign a little over a hundred feet from the polling place at Central United Methodist Church, she spoke about her excitement to serve the people of West Virginia. Garcia raised over $200,000 to Polis' $30,000. However, the gap in fundraising didn't faze Polis.
"It could have [an impact[ as far as advertising, but I think people are looking at more than who's got the biggest signs," she said. "I think there's some values that have become clear to people that we, we've got to vote for the right values."
Polis spoke against allowing transwomen from participating in women's sports competition. Trans athletes are vanishingly uncommon in West Virginia. However, Polis would lose her race to Garcia by three points.
Marion County County Clerk Julie Kincaid called the number of people who voted in this election historic. The said election day proceeded without a hitch, problems were dealt with smoothly. She suspected some polling places still had lines at 7:30 p.m., considering the high turnout. Poll workers ensured residents who were in line got the chance to vote.
And that turnout may have been key to the Levy race. As the last result update came out, Spatafore and her cohort looked terrified as a poll worker handed out the packet of results. However, this time, Marion County residents to chose to back the work the Humane Society does by 0.28%.
"We did it," she said, hugging the other members of the Humane Society present. "We did it."
