Thursday, April 18, 2024
For some races on the ballot in Tuesday’s local elections, the evening did not finish the way it started.
A Granbury School Board incumbent lost her seat despite a lead in early voting, a Tolar ISD incumbent who started off behind overtook her challenger, and a split-down-the-middle liquor election in Lipan tipped in favor of the legal sale of beer and wine in that town.
In the Granbury City Council races, one incumbent won another three-year term while another who was elected in July to serve out an unexpired term will not serve a full one.
In perhaps the biggest upset of the evening, Place 4 Granbury School Board incumbent Nancy Alana appeared poised for victory when early voting totals for Hood County showed her with 48.98% of the vote, or 1,270 of the ballots cast, in a three-person race.
But the contest quickly turned into a nail-biter when Courtney Gore took the lead as Vote Centers began reporting after the polls closed.
Gore bested both the 12-year incumbent and Betsy Ross with an unofficial vote total of 2,756 (47.9%) to Alana’s 2,463 (42.8%) and Betsy Ross’ 531 (9.2%).
The totals for each candidate included a small number of votes from Parker and Somervell counties.
In the GISD Place 3 contest featuring three newcomers (Chris Willis did not seek a second term), Melanie Graft won an easy victory, scoring a total of 2,822 votes, or 47.9%.
Tallies for her competitors were 1,465 (24.9%) for Bret Deason and 1,608 (27.3%) for Susan Wood.
School board races are won by a plurality vote, meaning there will be no runoff.
Winning candidates for Granbury City Council easily edged out their opponents, continuing a trend established in early voting.
Place 3 incumbent Bruce Wadley bested challenger Joanie Keays with 906 votes (54.51%) to her 756 (45.49%), and Steven Vale ousted Cathy Reidy from the Place 5 seat she has held for only a few months.
The contest was the third face-off for Vale and Reidy.
The pair were in a three-person race in a special election held June 29. Vale won the most votes in that race, but did not receive the 50% of the vote, plus one to win the seat outright.
Reidy won the July runoff by 48 votes. She was subsequently sworn in to serve the remaining few months of Tony Mobly’s term.
Mobly resigned the seat to run for mayor in the special election. Jim Jarratt won that race.
Final tallies showed that Vale received 895 votes to Reidy’s 775, which was a percentage vote split of 53.68%/46.32%.
In the Tolar ISD Place 4 race, incumbent Rhonda Knight started out five votes behind challenger Jodi Barnes, but finished the night as a winner.
The vote outcomes for that race were 129 votes for Knight (52.44%) and 117 for Barnes (47.56%).
Voters in Lipan approved the legal sale of beer and wine, with 28 people voting for it and 17 voting against it.
All eight constitutional amendments passed overwhelmingly.
Out of Hood County’s 45,843 registered voters, 6,645, or 14.50%, cast ballots during early voting and Election Day.
