UDPATED — Frost tops Johnson, Miller wins re-election

By Paul Keane

The Wayne County News

Scott Frost topped Richard Johnson Tuesday night, becoming the first 
Black person to win the Mayor's post in the City of Waynesboro.

Vote totals have not been certified — and won't be for five days as 
affidavit and mail-in absentee ballots are certified. With election day 
voting and absentee ballots already received having been counted, 
though, Frost brought home 711 votes to 510 for Johnson, who has served 
the city for the past 12 years.

In the race for Alderman-at-Large, the only other city-wide race, 
challenger Deunco Jordan beat incumbent Kevin Stevens by a 783-442 
margin.

Incumbents won three of the four other aldermen positions, with the only 
difference being in Ward 2 where incumbent Albert Busby was not running 
for re-election.

In Ward 1, incumbent Tim Cochran beat out two challengers, taking home 
217 votes to 77 for Jamie Heathcock and 62 for Willard "Buster" Crocker.

In Ward 2, where Busby was not running, Jerry Hutto beat Sammy Barnett, 
150-93. Hutto returns to public office after losing his Beat 3 
Supervisor seat roughly two years ago.

In Ward 3, incumbent Tammie Wilson was running unopposed. She brought in 
282 votes. She will begin her eighth term in office when she and other 
winners are officially sworn into office on July 1.

In the race for Ward 4 Alderman, incumbent Michael Norsworthy topped 
challenger Linda Gray by a 193-118 margin.

A total of 1,076 cast ballots on eleciton day, with roughly 157 absentee 
ballots being counted on Tuesday as well. Under state law, absentee 
ballots through the mail must be accepted — and, if valid,must be 
counted — for five days after election day.

Affidavit ballots are filed on election day and includes voters who 
either do not have proper photo ID or are unsure of which ward they are 
supposed to vote in.

On Wednesday, election commissioners were scheduled to go through those 
affidavit ballots to determine which ballots are legitimate and should 
be counted.

On Tuesday night, it was not known how many affidavit ballots were 
needing to be inspected.

Down in State Line, Willie L. Miller won re-election as Mayor, beating 
challenger April Taylor by a 113-37 margin.

In the race for the five Board of Aldermen seats, incumbents fared well.

Don R. Hinton led the race with 94 votes while Michial West finished 
second with 87 votes. Eric Sims finished third with 71 votes while John 
Terry young ended up fourth with 67 votes. The fifth and final spot when 
to Michael Coaker, who took home 66 votes.

With no wards in the town, the top five vote getters serve for the next 
four years.

Perry Young finished sixth with 58 votes while Dana Turner was seventh 
with 56 votes. James B. Waller, Jr., was eighth with 44 votes, Dorothy 
Simpson finished ninth with 43 votes, Brenda Hill was 10th with 32 votes 
and Pamela Causey ended up 11th with 31 votes.