Election Results For City, County Races
By REBECCA HAZEN
News Editor
The Dade County Special Election and the city of Trenton election were jointly held on Tuesday, Nov. 2. The results are as followed:
Incumbent Melissa C. Bradford won 715 votes to challenger Bella Donna’s 324 votes, for the District 4 Commissioner seat.
Bradford took over the seat as interim commissioner this past spring after her father, Allan Bradford, passed away due to COVID-19.
“I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude. Thank you to all who voted electing me for District 4 Commissioner. Please accept my deepest gratitude for believing in me. I am humbled by the numbers from those who took the time to go vote. Campaigning was a very good learning experience. I had to step out of my comfort zone. I learned more about myself and what I can do for the county. As I go forward, I know that having your strong support will be of great comfort and will motivate me to do my very best. I truly enjoy serving our community and will work hard. I plan to get to work on reviewing the operations I oversee, and I hope to find ways we can save or eliminate unnecessary cost. I plan to continue taking classes to educate myself on county business. I am truly thankful for your support. I am always available and willing to help in any way I can,” Bradford said.
In the city election, Challenger Mike Norris unseated incumbent Kirk Forshee for the Police Commissioner seat. Norris received 147 votes to Forshee’s 80 votes. Norris’ term begins Jan. 1.
“I want to thank everyone that turned out and voted for me, and especially everyone that assisted me in the process. It was a team effort to win,” Norris said. “Even if you didn’t vote for me, I am still looking forward to being your commissioner. I feel good about being able to work well together with the other three commissioners. I know the city has got some problems, but hopefully we will get that worked out.”
Terry Powell continues as the city’s Parks and Recreation Commissioner. He ran unopposed in the election.
All three ballot questions related to alcohol passed. These include:
“Shall the governing authority of the City of Trenton, Georgia, be authorized to permit and regulate package sales by retailers of both malt beverages and wine on Sundays between the hours of 12:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.” This passed with 130 “yes” votes to 104 “no” votes.
“Shall the issuance of licenses for the package sale of distilled spirits be approved?” This passed with 133 “yes” votes to 100 “no” votes.
“Shall the governing authority of the City of Trenton, Georgia, be authorized to permit and regulate Sunday sales of distilled spirits or alcoholic beverages for beverage purposes by the drink?” This passed with 128 “yes” votes to 105 “no” votes.
“Everything went wonderfully smooth, there were no problems at all,” Board of Elections member Carolyn Hixson said about the election. “Voter turnout was nine percent. We knew it would be low turnout because early voting was very sparse. We had more than one person say that they didn’t even know there was an election, which was surprising.”